New Workshop Develops Minority Faculty Leaders

UPDATE: PAEA is investing $11,000 in grants for this workshop.

This November at the Education Forum, we’re offering a new Pando™ workshop focused on promoting the development of minority faculty leadership at PA programs. Taking inspiration from similar offerings, such as the AAMC’s Minority Faculty Career Development Seminar, our workshop builds on the foundation of our successful Pando workshop series.

Developing Inclusive and Diverse Leaders

Diversity and inclusion are widely accepted as being of enormous benefit to patients, student learners, and the academic institution. Minority faculty bring different perspectives and experiences to their programs, enhancing the quality of the academic environment. Furthermore, minority faculty often have aspirations for leadership within their program or institution.

However, research suggests that these minority faculty feel they are in a counterproductive environment — one where the institutional climate is less supportive of inclusivity, ultimately restricting the levels of trust and the development of meaningful relationships. These are associated with a greater intent to leave academic medicine, which is a loss for both the institution and the individual.

Shani Fleming, one of the workshop facilitators, encourages you to ask yourself four questions:

1. Have the diversity efforts and strategies within your institution improved the representation of minority faculty?
2. What are some of the ways your institution does — and does not — support and enforce accountability for ensuring a climate of inclusivity?
3. What are some of the issues for not having sufficient representation of minority faculty at different levels of leadership?
4. What are the resources at your institution for promoting the advancement of leadership opportunities for minority faculty?

The Leadership 101: Developing Minority Faculty Leaders Pando workshop will address these and other questions and provide useful resources and effective strategies for minority faculty and everyone else interested in improving the inclusiveness of PA programs.

8 Thought-Provoking Sessions for PA Leaders

The workshop comprises a mix of interactive sessions and panel discussions, including:

1. Maximizing your Resilience as an Individual, Team Member, and Leader. Recognize common challenges that minority faculty face in medical education and identify the particular areas of support that mentorship and faculty development can provide minority faculty.
2. Leadership Skills. Complete an individual leadership inventory and analyze your own leadership skills for strengths and areas in need of improvement.
3. Difficult Conversations Made Easy: Managing Conflict. Recognize the “Three Conversations” in every difficult conversation and how these influence your preparation and behavior.
4. Navigating the Landscape of Academic Medicine — Demystifying the Promotion Process. A panel of experienced PA faculty will share their experiences and offer tips on how to survive and thrive in the world of academic medicine.
5. Performance Evaluation: Making Accurate Assessments of Your Performance. Establish a mechanism for ongoing feedback through mentor interaction to determine your level of readiness toward successful annual performance evaluations — and ultimately toward successful promotion and tenure.
6. Role of Mentoring and Professional Networks. Compare the role of mentorship versus sponsorship, and expand your networking skills for the purpose of personal and professional development in academic medicine.
7. Profiles of Success in Academic Medicine. Identify personal and professional skills that are vital to your academic advancement as well as unique experiences facing underrepresented racial and ethnic minority faculty.
8. Diversity and Inclusion in Academic Medicine — Creating a Diversity Plan. Get insight into building collaborative relationships with stakeholders and through networking to improve diversity climates. Learn ways to improve the discourse around institutional diversity and inclusion in academia.

The workshop, held in Washington, D.C., November 10-11, will be facilitated by four accomplished PA education leaders:

• Shani Fleming, MS, MPH, PA-C, Barry University (chair of PAEA’s Inclusion & Diversity Council)
• Terry Scott, MPA, PA-C, University of Washington
• DeShana Collett, PhD, MSPAS, PA-C, University of Kentucky
• Sharon Luke, MSHS, PA-C, ARC-PA