The Sheaf has been covering updates to the ongoing restructuring of the U of S College of Medicine since early this year. On this page, you’ll find a timeline of all our coverage, ordered from the latest news to the story’s early beginnings. Click on individual headlines to read the full articles.

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Medical school ‘will define my term as president’: Busch-Vishniac

President Ilene Busch-Vishniac stood before university council Nov. 15 and spoke with gutsy candor about her job and the future of the College of Medicine.

“Here I am, five months into my tenure, and yet I know — already — the biggest challenge that we face. I know what will define my term as president. And that’s what we do with the structure of the medical school at this institution.”

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Med school back under the knife: the College of Medicine’s faculty has one last shot to create its own restructuring plan

University of Saskatchewan President Ilene Busch-Vishniac prevented a bitter debate at last month’s university council meeting after arbitrating an under-the-table deal between university administration and College of Medicine faculty.

“We were headed for a very contentious debate at the university council and it was clear that would be in no one’s interest,” Busch-Vishniac said.

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Medical school reforms blocked: general academic assembly votes to force council to revisit its decision

The aisles of Convocation Hall were packed tight as the general academic assembly convened for a rare special meeting Sept. 6 and voted to force university council to revisit its decision to approve sweeping changes to the College of Medicine.

The GAA, made up of more than 1,000 full-time faculty members from across campus, voted with a slim two-thirds majority in favour of the college’s faculty, who have been the driving force behind the lobbying efforts to have council reconsider its May decision.

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Medical college faculty refuses to roll over

A special meeting of the general academic assembly was called for Sept. 6 to revisit university council’s hotly-debated decision to approve sweeping changes to the College of Medicine.

University of Saskatchewan President Ilene Busch-Vishniac called the meeting after her office received 50 requests from individual academics at the university, which triggered a clause in the university’s legislation that has not been used since being enacted in 1995.

“This is the first time there has been a special meeting,” U of S secretary Lea Pennock said. “The [legislation has] never been invoked before.”

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Medical college braces for restructuring: with a faculty in distress, College of Medicine goes forward with new strategy

The University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine was given the go-ahead by university council to revamp its academic governance model, despite passionate opposition from a throng of students and faculty.

The restructuring plan, based off a concept paper drawn up and distributed in April, aimed to improve methods of clinical instruction in the undergraduate medical education program and to clarify roles and responsibilities of clinical instruction within the college. The plan was also meant to enhance overall research performance.

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University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine on thin ice

In the early months of 2012, the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan was told to clamp down and rectify a handful of internal protocols or it will risk losing its status as an accredited medical school.

In a letter to Dean William Albritton, the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools and the American Liaison Committee on Medical Education wrote that a team of inspectors identified 10 weaknesses that would result in probation if not resolved in 10 to 15 months. The inspectors had been dispatched to the U of S three months earlier.

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Featured photo: On Campus News