Faculty Mentoring

The University of Kansas Medical Center Department of Preventive Medicine is pursuing excellence in teaching, scholarship and academic growth among junior faculty members in the Department of Medicine. Professor Kimber P. Richter, PhD, MPH is spearheading this effort.

Dr. Richter was  presented the prestigious "Achievement Award for Mentoring Post-Docs " on September 17th, 2010 at the School of Medicine Annual Faculty Retreat. She a member of the University of Kansas School of Medicine Society of Distinguished Mentors.

The Department's mentoring program links each junior faculty member with a mentorship team that includes at least one primary senior faculty member. The mentoring program provides ongoing support and career guidance, with emphasis on career development and excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.

Teaching Improvement

To promote teaching effectiveness, the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health has a program of teaching quality improvement with the following components:

• a set of curriculum competencies for which each faculty member is responsible in terms of both teaching and assessment, and which are focused on competency performance as well as knowledge;
• quantitative and qualitative student evaluations of each course;
• annual teaching review and evaluation conducted by the Department chair, including a feedback discussion with the faculty member and setting teaching goals for the next year;
• structured peer review of teaching that is addressed in annual evaluations
• referral to KU Center for Teaching and School of Medicine professional development activities in the area of teaching.
• resources and encouragement for faculty to attend professional meetings that address curricular content and teaching methods.

Scholarship and Professional Development

The Department strives to create an intellectually stimulating environment for faculty that will maximize the success of faculty in research, scholarship, service, and professional development. To accomplish this, the Department sponsors multiple opportunities in these areas:

• an on-going faculty research seminar (the Clinical and Translational Research Seminar approximately two times per month);
• an ongoing Public Health Grand Rounds that provides an opportunity to interact with public health professionals across the region.
• visiting professorships.
• resources and encouragement for faculty to attend regional, national and international meetings where there are resources for research and professional development;
• protected time (teaching reductions) during their first three years to establish their research programs
• junior faculty receive senior faculty mentorship
• each faculty member receives an annual performance review and evaluation that includes establishing goals for teaching, research, service and general professional development for the coming year - these are evaluated the following year.
• School of Medicine promotion and tenure guidelines establish a process of third year review for tenure track faculty, which includes in-depth feedback for faculty being reviewed in terms of their professional development and achievements to date as well as recommendations for future actions.
• referral to research development and other professional development events sponsored by the School of Medicine