Graceful Self-Promotion

March 21st, 2011 by pcahn

Last week I attended a gathering of faculty development and faculty affairs professionals at a nearby medical school. The theme for the meeting was to help clinician-educators produce scholarship, and thus advance academically. In the discussion, the topic of self-promotion came up, and the sponsor of the conference said that she had run into the dean earlier that day and mentioned to him that she was hosting our group on campus.

Some scientists and physicians shy away from this kind of comment because they see it as opportunistic bragging. On the other hand, deans and chairs are always interested in the activities of their faculty. It is their job to champion our successes to a larger audience, so they welcome hearing about achievements. It’s unrealistic to expect that academic leaders can know about every achievement, so it’s up to the faculty member to spread the word.

Here are some pointers for pointing out your successes adapted from the advice of a journal editor:

  1. Sharing good news is not a sign of arrogance. It’s being part of a supportive community.
  2. It is inconsiderate not to tell your community what you’ve accomplished.
  3. A link on Facebook or a signature line in your e-mail is an acceptable and considerate way to let people know of an activity you’re participating in.
  4. Tell them once and send a link. More than that is harassment.
  5. Winning awards and publishing articles are not something to be embarrassed about. Sharing them inspires others and opens up opportunities for collaboration.

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Match Day

March 18th, 2011 by pcahn

According to a press release from the National Resident Matching Program, primary care residencies saw an increase in the number of U.S. medical school graduates entering their programs.

All the numbers involved in the 2011 match seem to be on the increase: more slots, more applicants, more graduates of international medical schools.

As encouraging as the trend in primary care residencies may be, U.S. seniors fill only 50-60% of the available slots. In specialities like dermatology and orthopaedic surgery, US. medical graduates make up over 90% of the incoming cohort, a sign of how competitive they are.

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Selling Seats

March 15th, 2011 by pcahn

Like a lot of government-supported institutions in the United States, Dalhousie University Medical School in Canada is facing a budgetary shortfall. A cut in provincial funding eliminated 8% of the school's budget.

To make up the shortfall, Dalhousie will sell 10 first-year seats to students from Saudi Arabia for an annual payment of $75,000 each. The Saudi students will still have to go through an interview process and will take residencies in their home country.

My initial reaction was outrage, but reading more, it seems that Nova Scotia does not have as great a demand for doctors as Saudi Arabia does. This is not the kind of diversity that many medical schools aim for, but it will certainly enrich the experience of the Canadians in next year's incoming class.

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Cover Letters

March 11th, 2011 by pcahn

A friend of mine and I were talking about the difficulty many people have in finding jobs. News reports profile job seekers who send out hundreds of resumes without landing a single interview. While I find those stories painful to hear, my friend mentioned that she was one of those employers who receive hundreds of resumes and had a different view.

In the case of the job opening in her office, the response to the ad was strong. But many of the resumes submitted did not match the stated qualifications or came in without a cover letter. If the goal of an application is to make the candidate stand out, an unattached resume fails to call attention to the strengths of the applicant.

The conversation reminded me of other applications that academics submit. Whether it's a manuscript for a journal or a nomination for an award, a cover letter explains why the candidate is a good fit. The letter shouldn't merely restate the CV or the manuscript; it should connect the application to the mission of the award or journal. Keep it brief and jargon-free, but always include a cover letter.

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Coaching

March 10th, 2011 by pcahn

InsideTrack partners with colleges to offer undergraduate and adult learners personalized coaching for academic success. When schools contract with the service, students receive regular calls from coaches who give them tips on time management and keep them engaged in their studies.

A large-scale, randomized study of the service found that students who received academic coaching were more likely to stay on track than those who didn't. Male students, in particular, responded well to coaching, increasing their retention by 6 percentage points.

Although the study involves college students, it holds relevance for faculty as well. The small intervention of a coach to hold you accountable to your goals seems to yield positive results.

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Narrative Medicine

March 9th, 2011 by pcahn

After Rachel Adams's son was born with Down Syndrome, she became very familiar with hospitals. With attentive care, her son's health remains good. But she's noticed how doctors tend to treat the problem in front of them without considering the patient's larger story. She writes that they fix his tear ducts yet never ask how he's doing in school or how the family is coping with his treatment.

Rachel Adams is also a Professor of English. She sees an opportunity both to make her discipline more relevant and to increase the quality of patient care by infusing medical practice with humanistic values. By writing and reflecting on their patients, doctors will come to see them as characters in a larger drama. By reading novels, they will become more compassionate listeners.

Columbia already has a program in narrative medicine. It may sound like just one more task for busy clinicians to incorporate, but the theory is that reading and writing will ultimately save them time and improve patient care.

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The Case for Diversity

March 8th, 2011 by pcahn

When it comes to diversifying the faculty, one of the common arguments is that departments must choose between excellence and underrepresented minorities. As a powerful column by a university provost makes the case that this a false choice.

Yes, there are a limited number of open faculty positions and so offering a job to one person requires shutting out another. But diversity should not be a consideration solely at the point of hiring. Concern for attracting a broad applicant pool needs to begin before the job description is even posted. It needs to come into play when considering where to advertise, how to train search committees on unconscious bias, and how to interview candidates.

Then, once the most representative pool of candidates is assembled, departments should hire the best person for the position. Achieving diversity is not desirable for its own sake. Rather, it advances the educational mission of any university.

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Sentence by Sentence

March 7th, 2011 by pcahn

A new book by Stanley Fish exalts the sentence. Fish, who is a literary theorist, academic dean, and New York Times columnist, argues that writers must love language. They must treat their prose as a craft, constructing it as carefully as a sculptor. For writers, the sentence is their clay. It is the elemental building block by which meaning gets conveyed.

One review of the book contrasts its encouragement of creativity with the more prescriptive writing guide, The Elements of Style. Students can often benefit from the pithy rules and an emphasis on clarity that The Elements of Style provides. Fish's argument seems more suitable for the experienced writer. He recommends reading master author's sentences closely and importing their rhetorical tricks.

Even formulaic academic writing can benefit from varied sentence length and structure. In the end, all scholarship aims to convince its readers of a certain point. Language is the primary tool we have to persuade.

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Parental Leave

March 4th, 2011 by pcahn

Moms Rising is an advocacy group that promotes more family-friendly policies. Their site contains some sobering statistics about balancing childrearing and working in the United States.

  • 51% of new mothers lack any paid leave -- so some take unpaid leave, some quit, some even lose their jobs.
  • The U.S is one of only 4 countries that doesn't require paid leave for new mothers -- the others are Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Lesotho.
  • Paid family leave has been shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20% (and the U.S. ranks a low 37th of all countries in infant mortality).

I've been researching parental leave policies for faculty at Boston University and Boston Medical Center. Female faculty here at least have the benefit of six or eight weeks of paid leave after childbirth, but additional time off is unpaid or taken from vacation or sick leave.

In the talk about work/life balance, the onus always seems to be on the individual to become more adept at juggling commitments. Some of the hurdles, however, are structural, and only changes in institutional policies can make it easier for workers to have fulfilling professional and personal lives.

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E-Mail Overload

February 28th, 2011 by pcahn

Alexandra Samuel, a social media maven, has written about her attempt to reach an empty inbox. She did it by using a combination of technology (filters) and prioritizing. Her advice echoes some of the tips delivered in our faculty development seminar series.

Now Samuel is recommending another tactic altogether. She wants to upend the expectation that every e-mail message deserves a reply. It used to be that the burden fell on the letter writer to gather the materials and stamp needed to communicate. With e-mail, she says, the burden shifts to the receiver. So, she is starting a new experiment that will automatically reply to every unsolicited message with a variant of this text:

Due to the volume of email I receive, I no longer personally review every message. If you do not receive a further reply within 72 hours, please assume that I have had to focus on other professional or personal priorities at this time. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

I admit that I like to receive responses to all the messages I sent, particularly when it involves scheduling an event. With that in mind, I think carefully before I send a message to consider if I can answer my question in some other way. The automatic reply may work for someone in high demand, but if you're the person looking for help, it goes against protocol so drastically that it risks offending.

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