UPRC Associate Director of Clerkships (Adjunct Assistant Professor) - Medical Education

Penn State University•University Park, PA

47d

About The Position

The Penn State College of Medicine is seeking a dedicated and experienced individual to serve as the Associate Director (Adjunct Assistant Professor) of Phase II undergraduate medical curriculum operations at the University Park Regional Campus (UPRC). This position ensures high-quality and standardized clinical education for medical students during Phase II (core clerkships) of their education. The Associate Director will collaborate primarily with Mt Nittany Medical Center. Additional collaborations will include community preceptors, Penn Highlands, Altoona and State College VA systems and faculty and clerkship directors based in Hershey. This role will ensure consistent clerkship experiences, support student development and promote faculty engagement. For oversight of faculty development and quality of teaching (both at a faculty and clinical site level), the UPRC associate director of clerkship directly reports to the Assistant Dean for Education in the Clinical Learning Environment in Hershey and indirectly to the Associate Dean for Education at UPRC. The UPRC associate director of clerkships also reports to the Assistant Dean for Education in the Clinical Learning Environment and the individual clerkship director(s) for oversight of respective clerkship curricula at UPRC clinical sites. The effort allocation for this position is 0.2 FTE (8hrs a week)

Requirements

Advanced degree (MD, DO, or equivalent) with board certification in a medical discipline.
Demonstrated experience in medical education, clinical teaching, and/or clerkship administration.
Strong communication, organizational, and leadership skills.
Commitment to mentoring medical students and fostering their academic and professional success.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with community-based hospitals and preceptors in a distributed education model.
Knowledge of medical student evaluation and assessment methodologies.
Expertise in faculty development strategies for clinical educators.

Responsibilities

Clinical Clerkship Coordination: Serve as a liaison between Mt Nittany Medical Center, community preceptors, Penn Highlands, the Altoona and State College VA systems, other clinical sites, working with the Assistant Dean for Education in the Clinical Learning Environment and Hershey-based clerkship directors to ensure comparable delivery of clerkships across all sites.
In reporting to the Hershey Assistant Dean for Learning in the Clinical Environment, align clerkship objectives, content, core clinical conditions and procedures, competencies and assessments with institutional standards to provide a seamless, standardized, and comparable learning experience for students. Disseminate learning objectives and comparability data regarding student performance and satisfaction to site leadership and faculty.
Attend Clerkship Director Subcommittee meetings regularly. Participate in clerkship director site meetings (currently three per year).
Student Evaluation and Feedback: Collect and review student performance data and feedback from preceptors to ensure timely and comprehensive evaluations.
Submit detailed evaluation data and recommendations to Hershey clerkship directors for final grade entry.
Conduct mid-clerkship feedback sessions with students to provide guidance, address concerns, and foster professional growth.
Mentorship and Advising: In collaboration with the Specialty Career Advising Program (overseen by the Office of Student Affairs), mentor and advise medical students on career exploration and specialty choices within medical disciplines.
Work with the Office of Student Affairs to support efforts to provide coordinated guidance and mentoring for career development.
Faculty Development and Faculty Appointments: Support the delivery of faculty development programs to enhance the teaching skills of community-based preceptors and core Penn State faculty.
Assist preceptors in implementing best practices for clinical teaching and assessment in a community-based educational setting.
Serve as point of contact for community-based faculty to ensure up-to-date faculty appointments.
Collaboration and Quality Improvement: Collaborate with the Associate Dean for Evaluation and Assessment and Hershey and University Park faculty to ensure continuous quality improvement in the delivery of medical clerkships.
Identify and implement innovative solutions to address challenges in clinical education and promote a positive learning environment.