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Education / Faculty Development / Ever Better Mentoring
 

Ever Better Mentoring

UR Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and URSMD Office for Faculty Development

Application Deadline has closed.

Mentoring the next generation of scientists takes more than goodwill. It takes knowledge and skills to inform success and continued career development. The ‘Ever Better Mentoring’ online course can provide faculty with the skills and knowledge to improve their mentoring skills. This course is designed for ease of use and is respectful of faculty professional time constraints.

Program Aim
To instruct and prepare current and future mentors through case-based online instructional practices and through a collaborative learning session to guide participants in being effective and responsible mentors.

Program Overview
The Ever Better Mentoring course is a 6-week hybrid course (on Blackboard and Zoom) in academic mentoring. The course was created to address the academic need for quality mentorship of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty. It is designed to foster practical knowledge from recognized theoretical models and best mentoring practices.

Program Goals
Upon completion of the Ever Better Mentoring course, participants will be able to:

  • Acquire effective modes of communication skills
  • Develop and promote skills for working in diverse scientific teams
  • Facilitate an equitable and informed transition to independence
  • Promote professional development opportunities
  • Align mentor/protégé expectations
  • Promote and model work-life balance
  • Promote and model academic resilience

Program Components
Ever Better Mentoring is a 6-week self-paced online Blackboard course with a 1.5-hour virtual synchronous session.

The Blackboard course will be open for six weeks. It takes approximately five hours total time to complete, inclusive of the mentoring competencies assessment.

  • Before starting the course material, a short self-assessment must be completed to help in identifying participants’ learning needs.
  • There are eight modules containing a total of thirteen cases.
  • Each case represents a situation that mentors often face with their proteges. After reading or viewing the cases, participants are given questions relevant to elements of the case.
  • Supplemental materials for the learning modules section and references are included as part of the course materials.

Synchronous virtual session (1.5 hour)

  • This session will be an opportunity for course participants to review mentoring competencies such as the ones we struggle with and those we are confident in, share thoughts in an open discussion on the case scenarios in which diverse approaches were given in the test responses.
  • The workshop will also afford the opportunity for participants to share perspectives and experiences about mentoring. In the process, participants will learn about new ways to approach familiar mentoring problems and difficulties with others.
  • Additional unique case scenarios will be discussed.

Course Participants
This course is designed to provide an opportunity for professional development of mentoring skills. It is cohort-based, and size is limited to 30 participants.

Program Directors
Camille Anne Martina, MS, PhD
Associate Professor (Research)
Departments of Public Health Sciences and Environmental Medicine

Janine R. Shapiro, MD
Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Medical Director for Continuing Medical Education
Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Program Dates 

  • Ever Better Mentoring Blackboard course will be opened for 6 weeks
    from January 17, 2024 – February 28, 2024 
  • Ever Better Mentoring in-person session at URMC 
    March 7, 2024, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Fees
This program is made possible through educational funds from the CTSI and URSMD Dean’s office. There is no charge to faculty for attending this program.

Application
CTSI and URSMD faculty who mentors students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty are invited to apply.

Certificate
A certificate of completion will be issued to all participants completing the program. This is determined by completion of responses to all 13 case studies and attendance to the 90 minutes Zoom session. Up to 6.5 CME credits will also be provided.

For more information
Please contact Dr. Camille Martina or Dr. Janine Shapiro.