Academy of Educators Membership Nomination 2012

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS

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 191 members.  We seek faculty who are committed teachers of medical students and residents.

2012 APPLICATION TIMELINE

• Tuesday, January 10, 2012 – 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 either Dr. Rao or Dr. Byerley.  [Of note, the application from the nominated faculty member will need to include a letter of support/recommendation from the applicant’s Department Chair – see below.]
• Friday, January 20, 2012 – Deadline for nominations from department chairs.  .
• Friday, February 17, 2012 – Deadline for receiving completed applications from all nominees. [This application must include a letter of support/recommendation from the Department Chair.]
• March, 2011 - Selection Committee meets to select new members
• Late March/Early April, 2012 – New members are announced.
• May 16, 2012 – Annual Evening of Educational Scholarship and induction of new members

NOMINATION PROCESS

All nominations for Academy membership must come from the candidate’s departmental chair.  Interested individuals are encouraged to ask their chairs to nominate them.

The departmental chair must send an e-mail to Vickie Cecil ( Vickie_cecil@med.unc.edu ) and either Beat Steiner (beat_steiner@med.unc.edu) or Julie Byerley ( julie_byerley@med.unc.edu )  naming the faculty members that they wish to nominate to the Academy by January 19,2011.  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 five 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

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 February 17, 2012 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.

1. Submit an 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. A personal statement describing activities and accomplishments that support “superior achievement” in one or more of the five categories mentioned above.  This narrative should be limited to two single spaced pages.
3. Request a 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. Request 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.