MUSC Women Scholars Initiative Programs

Area 1: Career Development

1. Workshops
   Aim: Provide training on specific topics to women faculty through an annual premiere workshop with a national expert, as well as through semi-annual half-day workshops with local speakers and panels.
   Led by Samar Hammad
    
2. Roundtables
   Aim: Create a setting where women faculty can receive information, but with more depth and an individualized manner, as well as provide an opportunity to network with a senior faculty member or expert and other women faculty with a common interest (1-1.5 hour small-group sessions focused on a specified topic)
   Led by Kathy Magruder & Tammy Nowling
    
3. Mentoring Sessions (in development)
   Aim: Facilitate one-to-one sessions for mentoring on specified topics by locating senior faculty (male and female) to hold sessions, defining specific topics from which junior faculty can select, and arranging sessions
   Led by Kristyn Zajac

Area 2: Awards and Fellowships

1. John R. Raymond Fellowship Award and Networking Reception
   Aim: Annually, select a woman faculty member at MUSC (of any rank) to receive this monetary fellowship award to be used towards building a collaboration with a renowned expert (male or female) in her field; provide the Mentor Award to the renowned expert identified by the selected woman faculty member; and hold a reception to honor the fellowship recipient, as well as to provide an opportunity for the recipient and other MUSC women faculty to network with one another
   Led by Mary Mauldin
    
2. Advancement of Women Faculty Award
   Aim: Annually, recognize at the Faculty convocation a member of the MUSC community who made outstanding contributions to the University through championing the advancement of women faculty at MUSC.
   Led by Mary Mauldin
    
3. Eminent Scholar Award
   Aim: Annually, recognize a prominent, nationally- and internationally-known woman scholar, bringing the scholar to campus to (a) expose MUSC women faculty to role models & (b) increase the exposure of MUSC male faculty and students to exceptional women scholars 
   Led by Melissa Cunningham 

Area 3: Resources

1. Scholars for Best Practices in Hiring and Promotion (in development)
   Aim: Educate individuals involved in the hiring and promotion of faculty on how to avoid unintentional bias by selecting (from MUSC Deans’ nominations) 2 College of Medicine and 1 other senior women faculty to serve two-year terms (administrative compensation provided) for training all high-level search committees, department chairs and deans, and annual tenure and promotion committees (departmental, college, and university level)
   Led by Darlene Shaw
    
2. Technology & Communications
   Aim: Provide quality web-based resources for MUSC women faculty to quickly locate pertinent information related to recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty.
   Led by Mary Mauldin
    
3. University-Wide Childcare Workgroup
   Aim: Facilitate collaboration between representatives across campus to collectively work on establishing childcare options at MUSC. Maintain the MUSC Childcare Network website (www.musc.edu/childcare/), which will connect MUSC faculty, staff, and students who are searching for childcare.
   Led by Sudie Back & Megan Moran-Santa Maria
   
   
4. Exit Interviews
   Aim: Conduct exit interviews with faculty leaving MUSC to obtain valid feedback about the organization, with major objectives of (a) collecting data in a structured manner; (b) aggregating results for the institution as a whole; (c) analyzing findings to identify consistent trends, patterns, and themes; and (d) using the results to determine and implement strategies for increasing retention and reducing turnover of women faculty.
   Led by Sheila Smith & Shannon Smith
   
   
5.  University-Wide Women Scholars Development
   Aim: Address the macro (i.e., policies) challenges at MUSC to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty at MUSC through annual monitoring of the University-Wide Women Scholars Development Plan.
   Led by Ashli Sheidow & Darlene Shaw