The Essentials Of A Faculty Development Program In The Setting Of A New Medical School

Health sciences centers rely on competent and engaged faculty for their success, and therefore a robust faculty development program is a must for every academic institution. We report on the Comprehensive Faculty Development Program that we have implemented at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. A wide variety of options are available to our faculty including a customizable Institutional Faculty Development Course, mentoring across the professional lifespan, and a Leadership Development Academy. We feel that a broad and responsive faculty development program helps ensure that academic health centers recruit and retain vibrant faculty.\n\nIn this paper, we describe an innovative and comprehensive faculty development program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC EP). TTUHSC EP is a public university with about over 400 full-time and part-time faculty members, located on the USA–Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. TTUHSC EP has four academic units: the Paul L Foster School of Medicine, the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Woody L Hunt School of Dental Medicine. The Office of Faculty Development (OFD) serves the needs of faculty in each of the four sister schools by coordinating a diverse faculty development program that supports the academic goals of our institution: excellence in teaching, research/scholarship, clinical skill/simulation (for practicing clinicians), and administrative/leadership skills.\n\nThe OFD team is composed of four staff members and two faculty leaders, the associate and assistant deans. The associate dean is a physician while the assistant dean is an epidemiologist. Both deans have an appointment with a clinical department, and 60% and 70% of their time, respectively, is dedicated to their administrative role. Our faculty development programs are publicly announced and open to our volunteer, full-time and part-time faculty. These opportunities are accessible to faculty located …