School of Medicine Executive Dean's Distinguished Mentoring Awards

History

The Executive Dean in The School of Medicine, University of Kansas formally launched the SOM Executive Dean's two separate distinguished mentoring awards in the summer of 2006. Outstanding mentors from the SOM faculty will be chosen annually and honored as a part of the Mentoring Program. Participation in Mentoring is part of the faculty evaluation and reviewed by the P&T Committee.

This award recognizes a commitment to faculty development through partnering and rewarding the senior medical scholars who exemplify a deep commitment to fostering the professional growth of junior faculty with less experience, and to encourage all departments and divisions to support and actively promote mentoring. By recognizing the process, mentoring has been elevated in importance to the KU academic community. Administration believes that mentoring is critical to the growth of faculty vitality and the effort on the part of our faculty mentors is the foundation for development of the next generation of leading medical educators: our heroes, our master teachers, and our role models. They strive for excellence in all their activities, and give selflessly to their students, their colleagues, and their patients … still finding time to “give a leg up” to our junior faculty.

The SOM Executive Dean's two distinguished and separate Mentoring Awards are based on years of experience and are designed to allow faculty to honor their faculty Mentors who embody both the letter and spirit of mentoring.  Only a Mentee may nominate a candidate, even if today the Mentee is no longer a junior faculty member due to the passage of time.  Two (2) awards to be presented:

• Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award -- "The Jayhawk"
  (For professors with 20+ years at KUSoM)
•  Excellence in Mentoring Award
  (For professors or associate professors with a minimum of 5 years at KUSoM)

The prestigious awards acknowledge the consistent time sacrifices and commitments through effort and advice by mid and senior faculty (professors and associate professors with a minimum of 5 years at KUSOM) to ensure our junior faculty (instructors, assistant or associate professors working in the KU SOM for less than 5 years) achieve their full academic potential by developing academic skills and attain academic advancement in the clinical, research and teaching areas.

Criteria

• A Mentee (having been mentored for a minimum of 12 months or more) must submit the nomination for their  candidate
• Nominee or candidate must be a member of KU SOM in order to qualify for either of the two separate awards.
• A p rofessor with 20 years or more at KUSoM is qualified for the Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award -- "The Jayhawk"
• A professor or an assoicate professor with a minimum of 5  years at KUSoM is qualified for the Excellence in Mentoring Award
• Nominees are disqualified for this award if serving as a member of the Dean's staff or as a member of the Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs Advisory Panel .
• Nominee has mentored a substantial number (3 or more) of junior faculty over the years.
• Nominees should be scholars with demonstrated success in the areas they mentor.
• Superb performance in mentoring junior faculty in their chosen profession goals:
• Accessibility and commitment to "be there".
• Excellent guidance of individual research and/or creative projects;
• Willingness to assist junior faculty in pursuit of their stated goals, actively guiding development of teaching skills, research and pursuit of professional goals, clearly articulating expectations, and;
• Holding their mentee to high standards, encouraging and helping them establish their own records of scholarly activity or performance, evidence of supporting mentee's participation in events(e.g., meetings, conferences, committees, speaking engagements);
• Ability to involve their mentees in “networking” activities with other professionals and faculty, and faculty; and finally
• Evidence of mentees completing their defined projects (such at completion of grants, publications, meeting promotional goals) on time.
• The award will be based on the following criteria:
• A demonstrated commitment to fostering the intellectual, creative, scholarly and professional growth of their mentees so they may function effectively and with measurable success in the organization;
• Evidence of sustained commitment (12 months or more) to a professional mentoring relationship that results in career growth or personal development of 3 or more mentees(s) -- a less experienced junior member of the faculty.
• Demonstrated valued behavior, attitudes, and/or skills that aid the mentee(s) in achieving competence, confidence, and a clear professional identity.
• Candidates may hold the award more than once, but not within a 5 year time frame.

Nomination Materials required (by 5:00 p.m. August 24, 2007)

• The Mentee, in preparing the nomination submission, must:
• First, complete the MENTEE'S ONLINE MENTORING NOMINATION FORM (Word) no later than August 24, 2007. The form includes questions regarding, but not limited to:
• A testimonial of what your mentor has meant to you;
• Descriptions of specific behaviors and their significance;
• Specific examples of mentoring interactions, and
• Descriptions of what you have accomplished that you directly credit to the nominated mentor;
• A statement providing a simple explanation of your work directly or indirectly influence by the mentorship, dating from either during or following the mentorship relationship.
• Mentee's are strongly encouraged to give specific examples of goals attained, projects completed, promotions, grants or awards earned, obstacles overcome, lessons learned in addition to anything else that they feel is attributable to the mentoring relationship
• Second, the Mentee nominating the candidate is responsible for:
  • Soliciting any amount of support for their candidate from other faculty such as the nominee's deans, chair, director, colleague(s) and/or additional Mentees (past or present).
  • Assuring completion and submission of the ONLINE MENTORING SUPPORT FORM (Word) no later than 5:00 p.m., August 24, 2007 from those solicited for support.
• Third, the Mentee nominating the candidate must submit (via campus mail to Marty Gunion, Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs, School of Medicine 1049) on behalf of themselves and their nominee, an up-to-date curriculum vitae (within the last year).  

• The candidate will be notified by the committee of their nomination and asked to provide his or her statement of mentoring philosophy – one page limit.
• All candidates will be encouraged, but not required to complete a one-page questionnaire for the Virtual Mentor webpage, launched, 2006.  http://www.kumc.edu/som/facdev/virtualmentor.html

 

Selection

• Critical to the assessment of the nominees:
• Extent of mentoring
• Apparent quality of mentoring judged from outcome measures assessed from:
• The achievements of those mentored including publications, awards and prizes, and most importantly the career paths during or since the conclusion of the mentorship
• Letters of support from additional current or former Mentees of the candidate
• Other statements of support (Chair, Directors, Division Chiefs, etc.)
• The collegiality of the mentoring experience and the desirable characteristics of the mentoring environment (assessed from statements of support).
• Nominations will be reviewed by the School of Medicine Professional Development and Faculty Affairs Advsiory Panel chaired by the Associate Dean for Professional Development and Faculty Affairs. This panel comprises various professional levels from an interdisciplinary arena.
• 2 finalists for each award (the Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award -- "The Jayhawk" and the Excellence in Mentoring Award) will be selected by the committee and recommended to the Executive Dean
• Final selection will be by the Executive Dean, School of Medicine, University of Kansas. Winners and finalists will be announced by the Executive Dean in front of the faculty assembly at the annual Fall Faculty Retreat each year.

Award & Presentation

• $1,000 (per award)
• Trophy
• Presented by the EVC/Executive Dean at the Annual Faculty Retreat September 7, 2007.

The on-line nomination and support forms must be submitted via email, and viteas must be delivered by hand or via campus mail no later than 5:00 p.m., August 24, 2007 to:

Marty Gunion, Senior Coordinator
Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs, SoM
Email address: mgunion@kumc.edu
Phone Number: (913) 588-1381

2006 Inaugural Award Recipients

• Leone Mattioli, MD
  Professor of Pediatrics, Cardiology Section
• Elizabeth “Betty” C. Penick, PhD
  Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science

School of Medicine Educators Honored for Service