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Chair's Column
Group on Faculty Affairs Vitality! An interesting word—almost lifts itself off the page when you say it—a word that expresses resilience, energy, strength, vigor and life. Add faculty to the front of it for "Faculty Vitality!" and a key role of faculty affairs in the contemporary medical school is pretty well defined. Now making that vitality a reality through the innovations, programs, interventions and assets of our respective offices is both the charge and the challenge. As Faculty Affairs officers we collectively include someone at almost every point along the continuum from "one-person" dynamos to multifaceted teams. We have small offices and large offices, staffed and understaffed, funded and scraped together resources-we work to "make it happen" with whatever is available. The AAMC Group on Faculty Affairs (GFA) is a national network resource created to help each of us understand what it takes to ensure faculty vitality and, as importantly, to tap our collective "know how" to help our colleges ameliorate whatever might detract from faculty vitality. What can you expect in the year ahead? The GFA is working to align our strategic thinking with the work that Dr. Kirch and his team are engaging within AAMC. Your GFA Steering Committee met in January and took on review of the AAMC strategic priorities in light of what we are observing and hearing from our GFA colleagues. We selected two of the AAMC strategic priorities as the most immediately relevant to Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development professionals. You will see and hear more about those priorities and have an opportunity to provide your thoughts in the near future through our Listserv and on these pages. We also convened our three subcommittees -- Nominating, Research, Professional Development & Programs -- in January and confirmed their charges. We hope you have already marked your calendars for the GFA Professional Development Conference, August 1-4, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pa. This GFA community conference is our opportunity to come together and welcome familiar faces and new representatives recently appointed by their Deans to membership in the GFA. Watch your e-mail for the Call for Posters and Workshop Abstracts. If you have attended in past years or if this will be your first time at one of our programs, I am sure you will find the content informative and the camaraderie engaging. The GFA is your network. Together we rely on our collective ability to ask good questions, push evidence of best practices forward and support each other along the learning curve-which in this field continues to evolve! I personally look forward to your engagement and participation. Please do not hesitate to share your issues, innovations and ideas. Your vitality is critical to faculty vitality! Valerie N. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.A. |
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