Faculty Development Programs Gain Ground: Medical Schools Invest in Their Most Valuable Resource

VOLUME 10, NUMBER 4

JORDAN J. COHEN, M.D., PRESIDENT

JANUARY 2001

Faculty Development Programs Gain Ground: Medical Schools Invest in Their Most Valuable Resource

By Jennifer Proctor

Women faculty and doctors come from all over Virginia to the Women in Medicine: Pathways to Leadership Conference. The Office of Faculty and Instructional Development at Virginia Commonwealth University co-sponsors the conference.

As belt-tightening at academic medical centers increases the demands on faculty members and as the booming economy presents more lucrative career opportunities for physicians, medical schools have begun to place new value on retaining faculty. Taking cues from the corporate sector, academic medical centers nationwide are using faculty development programs to boost faculty retention as well as job satisfaction, productivity, and performance.

"Comprehensive faculty development empowers faculty members to excel as educators and to create vibrant academic communities that value teaching and learning," write LuAnn Wilkerson, Ed.D., and David Irby, Ph.D., in an April 1998 article in Academic Medicine. Comprehensive faculty development, according to the authors, includes professional, instructional, leadership, and organizational components.

Dr. Wilkerson, associate dean for medical education and director of the Center for Educational Development and Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, has started faculty development programs from scratch for at least five universities. She says that while faculty development may not be more important today than it was in the past, it is commanding more attention. Academic physicians' growing workloads as well as the need to prepare community faculty for their roles as teachers are making faculty development an essential tool for institutions.

Faculty development does not happen overnight, Dr. Wilkerson stresses. She began UCLA's faculty development program in 1992 with an emphasis on instruction. Next, she introduced a leadership component to help course directors improve their job performance and prepare younger faculty to assume more senior positions.

Later came the professional development section to help socialize new faculty into academia and UCLA, and organizational development, which aims to bring faculty members and administrators together to create an environment in which teaching and learning are valued. Organizational development includes the design and development of educational policies and procedures.

Faculty development has helped shine the spotlight on education at UCLA's medical school, Dr. Wilkerson says. Educational skills are now used to assess faculty promotion, and monetary awards are given for teaching, the winners of which lead the procession at the Hippocratic Oath ceremony and wear special stoles during the event. "Now, there's a different feel. Faculty at UCLA have an energy and a momentum around teaching," Dr. Wilkerson says. All of this, she stresses, helps UCLA create an academic community in which teaching and learning are a priority. "Faculty members are constantly talking about teaching, thinking about better ways to do it, and investing time and energy into developing innovative evaluation systems."

Support from the top, including the medical school dean and department chairs, has been instrumental in the success of the program. Dr. Wilkerson adds that the atmosphere and attitude are furthered by teaching partnerships between faculty specializing in the basic sciences and those with a focus on education.

Nurturing a Culture of Learning Partnership is also an important element of faculty development at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. The school's Office of Faculty Development, which was established five years ago, and the Office of Academic Development create and sustain a unique culture of learning. This culture emphasizes a compassionate environment with respect for faculty and their various skills, and collaborative efforts to develop new skills that correspond with today's information age.

Faculty development starts as soon as a faculty member walks through the door. For three days in August, new faculty members meet the institution's leadership and learn about the school and the requirements for promotion. "We invest in new faculty by giving them the skills they need to succeed in our academic track," says Dona Harris, Ph.D., director of academic development at East Carolina.

"We are lucky to have a culture that supports developing our own people," Dr. Harris says. "We have opportunities, such as new faculty orientation, for people to think about faculty development and value it."

Mentoring is a significant part of Brody's faculty development efforts, and the school has been nationally acclaimed for its programs. The Public Health Service recognized the school's Office of Faculty Development as one of four National Centers of Leadership in Academic Medicine, which develop and implement model mentoring programs that can be adopted by other schools.

"Our mentoring programs emphasize defining core values and prioritizing them in conjunction with career goals," says Linda Pololi, assistant dean and director of Brody's Office of Faculty Development.

At Brody, faculty members are encouraged to direct their own learning and set their own goals. Pololi says one of the school's most successful programs is called "Teaching Skills for the Medical School Educator." The three-day, intensive session is held off-site and open to junior- and senior-level faculty from the basic and clinical sciences. The course focuses on career advancement and the development of the skills necessary for promotion. After three days, participants have drafted a detailed career blueprint. "This program helps faculty attain their dreams," Pololi says.

Dr. Harris credits Brody's leadership, faculty, and faculty development with ushering in the school's unique culture, which "has strengthened the entire medical school."

Moving Beyond the Traditional The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine's faculty development program recognizes diversity in faculty members' goals and values. "Everyone values different things differently," says Carol Hampton, associate dean of faculty and instructional development. "Some faculty members prefer seeing patients and teaching, while others like managing new clinics and chairing national professional organizations." She says faculty development helps the medical school identify individual values and abilities and reward people accordingly.

With Hampton's help, VCU established its Office of Faculty Development in 1994. Soon after, Hampton interviewed all 26 department chairs and evaluated their faculty development needs; she found that faculty felt lost when it came to career planning and that faculty development had to address more than teaching.

This broader purview is reflected in the Office of Faculty Development's mission to "assist faculty in becoming accomplished, productive, and successful in their chosen endeavors of teaching, research, patient care, or administration, and in sustaining their vitality both now and in the future."

The faculty development program helps faculty plan for promotion and tenure and take initiative in their career planning. Like other faculty development leaders, the school uses its own experts, such as past chairs from the promotion and tenure committee, to explain the promotion procedures - in the process, helping identify leaders within the institution with whom faculty members can speak formally and informally.

Additionally, VCU requires faculty members to develop performance plans, meet with their department chairs, and work toward goals that are in line with their division's and the medical school's needs, Hampton says.

Another component of faculty development at VCU is the school's "Faculty Mentoring Guide," a peer-reviewed resource for assessing mentoring needs in relationship to professional development. The guide, Hampton says, can also be used as a tool in annual performance planning.

VCU is especially committed to helping women faculty members develop as leaders. The school's Women in Medicine (WIM) program is the 2000 winner of AAMC's Women in Medicine Leadership Development Award. VCU's WIM sponsors many programs throughout the year, including the Women in Medicine: Pathways to Leadership Conference, co-sponsored with the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the Eastern Virginia Medical School. The conference addresses such topics as communication in the workplace and mentoring.

"An institution should recognize that faculty is its greatest resource, and it should provide services and programs to support this resource," Hampton says. "VCU has been very aggressive in its efforts."

Matching Institutional Needs With Faculty Desires The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) recognizes that faculty need a broad range of skills and abilities to succeed. "Faculty development really means trying to advance both the career of the individual and the organization's goals at the same time through a systematic, organized program that provides necessary competencies and skills," says Deborah Simpson, Ph.D., associate dean of educational support and evaluation at MCW.

"Faculty have a select number of roles, instead of trying to be all things to all people," Dr. Simpson says. "Not everybody is going to be an NIH researcher, an award-winning teacher, a superb administrator, and an outstanding clinician." She says now faculty members normally accept one or two roles, and faculty development helps faculty excel in their chosen track.

MCW sponsors a college-wide mentoring program, which is now in its third year. Under the program, each new faculty member is assigned a mentor. Together with the mentor, faculty members compose short professional mission statements that address how they want to make a difference in the school, what drives them, and their unique career goals. Next, faculty members are asked to describe current projects and their relationship to the mission statement.

Lastly, new faculty members estimate the value chairs and division chiefs put on the projects. "Faculty members need to align their priorities with those of the department," Dr. Simpson says. "That's the most predictive tool of their success."

As the school shapes and reshapes its faculty development program to meet the changing needs of faculty, MCW looks to the business world. Dr. Simpson says IBM, Microsoft, and Motorola all do a tremendous amount of employee training to continuously improve and update skills. She admits academia has lagged behind and been slow to invest in its most valuable resource - faculty.

Making Faculty Development Work "At MCW, we've had very strong support from our leadership, who recognize the need to update and continuously view our faculty as valuable resources," Dr. Simpson says. All the faculty development experts agree that leadership support is critical to a program's success and the way to obtain this support is to make faculty development programs useful and relevant. Dr. Simpson explains that MCW's faculty development has earned leadership support through increased measures of academic productivity, such as academic products, creation of instructional material, and outcomes.

Leadership isn't the only support needed. Dr. Harris says that winning the respect of faculty, by getting to know them and providing them with useful opportunities, is another crucial step for an effective program. She recommends starting or strengthening faculty development with programs that affect a variety of faculty members from diverse departments.

UCLA's Dr. Wilkerson further recommends that schools start small. Before beginning a program, she advises asking: What can you do on a small scale? How can that make a difference? How do you help people think about other resources? How do you get those resources?

Dr. Harris agrees: "Whatever you do, take faculty development slowly. Once they [faculty members] come to a beneficial program, they will return."