Leadership Program
The Leadership Program of the Women’s Health Center of Excellence for Research, Leadership Education (WHCOE) focuses on the promotion, retention, and professional career development of women faculty. We work to facilitate the movement of women junior faculty into senior faculty ranks and leadership roles within the institution; to promote gender equity among faculty in academic medicine; and to increase the appointment and retention of women faculty. Various initiatives have been organized by the WHCOE Leadership Program to carryout the mission of the Program, including a mentoring program, professional development programs, and identification of liaisons within each WFUSM department. Listed below are links to these initiatives and to other sites to assist women faculty in their career development and advancement.
Career Development Seminar for Emerging Women Leaders (CDSEWL)
Professional Development Programs for Women Faculty at WFUSM
Mentoring Program for Women Junior Faculty
American Association of Medical Colleges Women in Medicine Program
Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program
Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (SELAM)
Faculty Development Programs (available internally only)
Faculty Development Reading
Career Development Seminar for Emerging Women Leaders (CDSEWL)
The Women’s Health Center of Excellence’s Leadership & Mentoring Program is pleased to announce the success of a new professional development fellowship, the Career Development Seminar for Emerging Women Leaders (CDSEWL), which began in January 2008.
For the past several years, WFUHS has been highly successful securing positions in women’s national leadership programs. Unfortunately only a few women can benefit each year from these programs as they are becoming increasingly competitive and expensive.
The CDSEWL fellowship, modeled after national programs for women in academic medicine, included the following sessions which took place over 10 months:
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Leadership for Our Times, Understanding Yourself and Your Communication Style, Ensuring Successful Small Group Process
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Finance Basics; SKILLSCOPE 360 Assessment
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Conflict Management, Mediation and Principled Negotiation
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Media Training
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Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Diversity, Power of Language, Implicit Bias
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Career Planning, Presenting Yourself
Presenters were nationally and internationally known experts, executive coaches and senior WFU faculty and administrators. All presenters are highly respected in their content areas.
34 applications (23 WFUSM and 11 WFU) were received for 12 fellowship slots. The inaugural class of program participants included:
WFUSM:
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Cheryl Bushnell, MD, MHS, Neurology
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Annette Johnson, MD, Radiology
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Brenda Latham-Sadler, MD, Family Medicine
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Amy McMichael, MD, Dermatology
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Linda McPhail, PhD, Biochemistry
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Katherine Poehling, MD, Pediatrics
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Mara Vitolins, DrPH, MPH, RD, PHS-Epidemiology & Prevention
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Janice Wagner, DVM, PhD, Pathology
WFU:
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Christy Buchanan, PhD, Psychology
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Nina Lucas, MFA, Theatre & Dance
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Shannon Mihalko, PhD, Health & Exercise Science
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Ulrike Weithaus, PhD, Humanities
From left to right: (front) Cheryl Bushnell, Nina Lucas, Christy Buchanan, Annette Johnson,
(back) Linda McPhail, Jan Wagner, Shannon Mihalko, Ulrike Wiethaus, Brenda Latham-Sadler,
Amy McMichael, Katherine Poehling and Mara Vitolins.
When asked what they thought the benefits of participating in the Program were, Fellows said “I now have a network of female faculty ‘team’ members to call on when I need to discuss issues related to the work environment; 1) I learned important aspects of professionalism and how to communicate effectively; 2) I was able to ask questions (confidentially) related to my own personal experiences and get responses from both senior colleagues-CDSEWL trainers- and other female faculty who attended the training”; “The primary benefits of this program is that it gave me confidence in my ability as a leader, and therefore made me feel more prepared to put the knowledge into action”; “It gave me a new way to think about my role in my department. I thought that the evaluation by several other faculty members in my department was very helpful in seeing how I am perceived by others.” “The visit from the CCL speakers was very instrumental in forming an approach to changing things in my department or overall plan.”
The Fellows were also asked to comment on how the WHCOE leadership programs, such as CDSEWL, hold promise for improving current outlook for women faculty. One Fellow said, “I think this program is invaluable for women at WFU. Not having to leave the institution and gaining all the insight that we gained was a great experience. If women know that this program is available, they may give their career here a fair chance when encountering problems. Also, this would be a good recruitment tool for hiring more women. I think that faculty development is the crux of keeping mid-career and higher faculty engaged, so this is precisely the kind of thing that should be offered.”
When asked about return on investment, Fellows stated that, “There is a tremendous return on investment for departments to encourage women faculty to participate in this program. Most importantly, it is wonderful to get this training here, because it prepares women for institutional leadership positions at WFU, as opposed to AAMC workshops that are much more broad and are not capable to being specific to WFU. The other benefit of participation is that the women get to work with other women leaders in the institution and become part of a network”, and that “diversity broadens the appeal of the hospital to patients, the community, and the academic world at large. It shows that we can handle any kind of person at any level without problems which may appeal to granting institutions as well. Women faculty can offer different perspectives on problem-solving, approaches to grants, as well as new ideas in patient care and research. Fostering the careers of women who think outside the box will allow the medical school and undergraduate schools to grow with the surrounding academic community.”
Congratulations to our Fellows who graduated on October 6, 2008th!
The next class will start in September 2009. The candidates have been selected. Updated information will be provided soon. map
Faculty Development Programs
Note, the information below is only available for internal faculty.
The Office of Faculty Services at WFUSM has made several PowerPoint presentations available to WFUSM faculty, from their Pathways to Promotion series.
Topics include:
What is needed for promotion.
The mechanisms of promotion to know.
Developing and maintaining an Educational Dossier.
Developing and maintaining a Curriculum Vitae.
Visit their website for more information.
Faculty Development Reading
Personal Productivitiy: How to work effectively and calmly in the midst of chaos, Susan Johnson, MD, MS, Univeristy of Iowa