The Professoriate
Mission and Goals
The mission of Stanford University School of Medicine's professoriate is to fulfill the medical school's mission through excellence and leadership in research, education, and clinical care.
We envision a unified community of faculty and scholars each contributing toward the reputation and success of the medical school's programs and receiving the appropriate recognition for their roles.
We support our mission and the fulfillment of this vision through the following goals:
- Promote a unified medical school community that recognizes the value of all its members including researchers, educators, and clinicians.
- Support the professional growth of faculty members by establishing clear and functional roles, effective career mentoring, and accomplishment-based promotions.
- Develop faculty recruitment and career development programs designed to promote a diverse faculty at all ranks.
Strategic Assessment
The medical school's relatively small size represents both its defining strength and greatest challenge, particularly with respect to the professoriate.
The small size of the School makes rapid, positive change possible and has established a high standard of excellence for all faculty members. An appointment to the medical school faculty conveys to individual faculty members a designation of quality that distinguishes them from their nonfaculty physician or scientist peers. Faculty selectivity and quality provide the medical school with its most significant defining elements. The close proximity among top-notch scientists from traditionally separate departments has encouraged the kind of interdisciplinary cross talk crucial for innovative research and translational medicine.
However, the structure of a small but comprehensive medical school presents the professoriate with its most difficult challenges. A single faculty vacancy in a key program can have much more significant implications in a small school like Stanford than in a larger peer institution. Current appointment and promotions procedures have led to the loss of faculty to other institutions.
The medical school's complex faculty system involves a number of different faculty roles and academic titles. While this system enables the School to successfully recruit and appoint faculty based on their excellence in one or more mission areas, it also creates divisions within the faculty based on types of appointments.
Achieving a truly diverse professoriate within a departmentally based faculty structure where each unit is relatively small also presents significant cultural and process challenges.
The medical school and its professoriate will remain relatively small; therefore, our primary challenge is to sustain excellence through the development of successful solutions to size-related challenges.
Strategic Initiatives
Our mission and vision for the professoriate will be pursued through coordinated efforts in faculty unity, faculty development, and faculty diversity.
To achieve our goal of creating a unified community of faculty, we will address the following initiatives:
- Create a professoriate based on functional roles.
- Establish appropriate and clear standards for scholarship within each functional role.
- Establish policies to promote the enfranchisement of faculty in the medical center line.
- Develop appropriate and clear mission-based roles and distinguishing titles for community-based volunteer teachers as well as other staff.
- Establish uniform benefits for all faculty members.
To achieve our goal of continued professional growth and development, we will address the following initiatives:
- Bolster support for faculty career development.
- Clarify appointment and promotions criteria.
To achieve our goal of faculty diversity, we will address the following initiatives:
- Develop an institutional focus on faculty diversity and women in medicine and science.
- Develop an aggressive public awareness program to promote the medical school as an environment supportive of women and minorities.
- Develop community outreach programs to introduce young women and minority youth to careers in the biosciences.
Prioritization and Implementation
The further development, prioritization, and implementation of these initiatives will be pursued under the direction of the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in consultation with the faculty committee on the professoriate.
Of the 12 initiatives proposed for the Medical School's professoriate, 8 have been prioritized for development and implementation in FY2001-2002 and FY2002-2003. These priority initiatives reinforce the importance of a well organized and high quality professoriate in the future success of the Medical School.
Faculty Unity Projects- Create a professoriate based on the primary functional roles of:
- Investigator
- Educator
- Clinician
- Establish appropriate and clear standards for scholarship within each functional role.
- Clarify appointments and promotions criteria.
The standing committee on the professoriate, chaired by the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will review all non-tenure line faculty titles and develop recommendations for changes to the structure and appointment and promotions criteria for each title.
Initial recommendations for changes will be developed for review by the Medical School Executive Committee by fall 2002.
Establish policies to promote the enfranchisement of faculty in the Medical Center Line.
An ad hoc subcommittee on the medical center line, chaired by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will evaluate the criteria for medical center line faculty appointment, promotions, and support within the medical school as the criteria affect the enfranchisement of the faculty within a single community. This subcommittee is also responsible for recommending to the committee on the professoriate revisions to key elements of the medical center line to achieve the goal of enfranchisement.
Initial recommendations for changes will be developed for review by the Medical School Executive Committee by summer 2002.
Develop appropriate and clear mission-based roles and distinguished titles for community-based volunteer teachers and other staff.
The Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will work with the subcommittee on the voluntary clinical faculty, including community physician educators, to develop recommendations on the requirements for participation as a volunteer teacher and the benefits to the volunteer, including Stanford titles and other Stanford-based privileges.
The Medical School Executive Committee will develop initial recommendations for changes for review by fall 2002.
Faculty Development ProjectsBolster support for faculty career development.
The Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will work with the associate deans for academic affairs to develop the requirements and recommendations for an institutionally sponsored faculty mentoring program.
Mentoring program recommendations will be brought to the Medical School Executive Committee in FY2002-2003.
Faculty Diversity ProjectsDevelop an institutional focus on faculty diversity and women in medicine and science.
The Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will work with the Committee on Women in Medicine and Science and the Committee on Faculty Diversity to develop recommendations for the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty.
Initial recommendations will be developed by fall 2002.
Develop community and secondary education faculty outreach programs to expose under-represented minorities to careers in the biosciences.
Academic Affairs will work in collaboration with other Medical School units to develop recommendations for comprehensive institutional community service programs.
Initial recommendations will be developed by fall 2002.
Projects To Be ScheduledThe remaining Professoriate Programs strategic initiatives will be pursued, following the activation of the priority initiatives, as resources and opportunities permit. These strategic initiatives include:
- Develop programs that mitigate the effects of current A&P criteria and process factors leading to the loss of faculty to other institutions.
- Develop a joint leadership development program with the Stanford University GSB.
- Establish uniform benefits for all faculty.
- Develop an aggressive public awareness program to promote the medical school as a supportive environment for women and minorities.
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