The Expectations & Responsibilities of Academy Membership
Members of Vanderbilt's Academy for Excellence in Teaching are expected to actively participate individually and/or collectively in accomplishing the short and long-term goals of the Academy. The Academy's prime purpose is to promote educational excellence within the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine environment and reinvigorate the educational enterprise through synergistic efforts.
Selection for Academy membership is considered an honor and brings with it the recognition that a faculty member is among the best-of-the-best medical educators at the VUMC. Thus as a baseline, each Academy member is already actively using his/her proven skills as an educator in his/her place of service.
Acceptance of membership in the Academy bring a higher expectation for service. It signifies that a faculty member has an extra special passion for serving in a leadership role that will strengthen or make a difference in the greater pedagogic enterprise with the Vanderbilt Medical Center. Typically this will be achieved by partnering and brainstorming with other Academy members and actively serving on the various working groups (Strategic Planning Committee, Teaching Awards Committee, Program Director Mentoring Committee, Membership Committee, Assessment of Service Committee). But advancement of the educational enterprise can also be accomplished through a myriad number of individual and creative pathways such as design of new curricular materials and scholarly research in medical education, fund-raising, Master Clinical Teacher and Master Science Teacher. Academy members are expected to participate in quarterly commons gatherings and period strategic planning sessions where they can collectively share best educational practices, concerns and forward thinking ideas that will work in a synergistic fashion to mold and adapt Vanderbilt's educational enterprise to respond to the rapidly changing challenges in medical education.
Criteria for renewal of Academy membership are currently under discussion by the Assessment of Service Committee. The current recommendation is that a review of continuing service will be conducted every 2 years.