School of Medicine Societies Program
For more than 25 years, our academic societies have fostered our collegial learning environment through interactions between students and faculty.
About
In 1999, the School of Medicine, in partnership with the KU Medical Alumni Society established the societies program. Like many learning community programs, the societies program was designed with a focus on learning, leadership development and community service to foster a learning environment that promotes scholarship, professional development, collegial relationships and flourishing.
Structure
There are eight societies across our Kansas City, Salina and Wichita campuses, each named after a notable alumnus of our program or influential school leader. Upon matriculation, students are divided into a small group learning community of 7-8 students. A society group is comprised of four small group learning communities, with the exception of Salina as there is only one learning community per class.
Societies on our three campuses
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Student-Faculty Interaction
Upon matriculation, each student will automatically have three clinician faculty members who are available to assist them throughout medical school. Those faculty will serve as a student’s Society Director, Coach and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Facilitator. These are faculty who have applied for these roles and are committed to the success of each student. Students spend the first two years with their Coach and PBL Facilitator and spend their full four years of medical school with their Society Director. This longitudinal model allows for continued growth and development over the course of the medical school curriculum.
Student Wellness
In addition to our wellness workshops and coaching, our societies program also promotes student wellness and fostering a safe learning environment in our extra-curricular society activities. Student leaders from each society plan monthly lunch meetings with a variety of topics including stress relief, humanities presentations, and faculty and student panels. Additionally, our student leaders also plan off-campus programming including volleyball tournaments, Royals games, bowling nights, sports watch parties and more!
In Kansas City, our six societies also compete annually for a Society Cup. Throughout the year, students can participate in programming, service, competitions and more to earn points for their society. The kick-off event each year is called Society Field Day, hosted in October, and includes inflatable obstacle course races, dodgeball, cooking competitions, banner painting, egg races and so much more. It’s a great day to come together for some friendly competition and generate additional camaraderie amongst the societies.
Interested in Learning More?
If you have further questions about our societies program or are a faculty member interested in getting involved, please contact Amanda Gray at studentaffairssom@kumc.edu.