Membership Application Process 2013

The application process for the Academy of Educators (AOE) is outlined below.

The goals of the Academy are to:

1) Promote and support excellence in teaching and the work and career paths of excellent teachers.

2) Promote and fund curricular innovation, evidence-based curricular change and a scholarly approach to the education mission.

3) Provide a forum for education leadership and advice for the Dean, Vice Dean for Medical Education and the leadership of the curriculum.

The AOE, which started in 2007, now has approximately 180 members.  We seek faculty who are committed teachers of medical students and residents.

2013 Application Timeline

• Thursday, February 21, 2013 – Call for nominations goes to all SOM chairs and all faculty.  All nominations must come from the chair, but interested faculty members are encouraged to discuss with their chair.  The nomination can take the form of an e-mail, naming the nominated faculty member, sent to Ms Vickie Cecil and Dr. Heather Walker
• Friday, March 8, 2013 – Deadline for nominations from department chairs
• Friday, March 22, 2013 – Deadline for receiving completed applications from all nominees.
• Late March, 2013 - Selection Committee meets to select new members
• Mid/Late April, 2013 – New members are announced.
• May 16, 2013 – Annual Evening of Educational Scholarship and induction of new members

NOMINATION PROCESS

Faculty members of all departments within the SOM, including AHEC, are eligible to apply to the AOE after two years of faculty appointment. Faculty new to the institution with extensive educational experience may be selected as members before two years on faculty at UNC. All nominations for Academy membership must come from the candidate’s departmental chair or designee. Interested individuals are encouraged to ask their chairs, or designee, to nominate them.

The departmental chair must send an e-mail to Vickie Cecil (Vickie_cecil@med.unc.edu ) and Heather Walker (AOE Membership Work Group chair) (heather_walker@med.unc.edu ) naming the faculty members that they wish to nominate to the Academy by March 8, 2013.  No details about the qualifications or accomplishments of the nominees need be included in this e-mail.  This information should be submitted in the letter of support that the chair must write for each applicant (see Application Materials below).

Successful applicants will need to document accomplishments in ONE or more of the following six areas:

• Direct teaching of medical students and/or residents and mentoring of other teachers
• Instructional development and curriculum design
• Student/resident advising and mentoring
• Educational administration and leadership
• Educational research
• Continuing Medical Education

Academy membership will be awarded to faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching over the course of the most recent five years based on student, resident and peer assessments.

Membership will also be awarded to faculty members who demonstrate leadership by playing a major role in curriculum management and/or innovation as evidenced by chairing major committees, directing courses and/or engaging in education scholarship.

APPLICATION MATERIALS

All materials should be submitted electronically no later than 5 pm on March 22, 2013 to Vickie Cecil, [vickie_cecil@med.unc.edu ].  Letters of recommendation should be submitted as e-mail attachments sent directly from the office of the individual writing the letter. The attachments should be in PDF format--if that is not possible a Word doc will be accepted.

1. Updated CV.  Applicants are encouraged to use the highlighting function in Word to highlight activities, awards, and publications that should be considered in support of this application.
2. Personal Statement. Describe activities and accomplishments that support “superior achievement” in at least one of the six categories mentioned above. Also include why membership in the AOE is being requested. This narrative may not exceed to two single-spaced pages.
3. Letter of endorsement and support from your department chair. The chair’s letter of support should indicate why this individual has been chosen for this nomination over other good teachers in the department.  In addition, the chair’s letter should include a summary of the faculty member’s student or resident evaluations, if relevant to the application.
4. One or two additional letters from other faculty members or peers who are familiar with your contributions to medical student or resident teaching.  If you teach in a SOM course or clerkship, it is important for one of the letters to be from the course or clerkship director who should also comment on the faculty member’s student evaluations and curricular innovations, as applicable. Similarly, if you primarily teach residents, one letter should be from the director of the Residency program in which you teach, commenting on resident evaluations and educational innovations as applicable.