Executive Dean Higginson welcomed the first ever cohort of the Mentoring Research Group (MeRG) in January. The pilot cohort consists of 11 mentees made up of staff, faculty & grad students.
MeRG was designed to help participants develop technical skills needed to become more effective in the publishing process and become more empowered as they develop a personal plan to address the potential barriers and identify a pathway to success. The program promotes the career development and advancement of faculty, staff and grad students at BSOM.
Assistant Dean of Clinical and Educational Scholarship, Dr. Dmitry Tumin, presented Idea Formulation from the perspective of a clinical employee to the mentees at the session.
Director of Research Administration & Interim Director, Clinical Trials, Cierra Buckman, presented Intro to Research and Topic Formulation in the first session of MeRG.
Interim Department Chair, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Dr. Espen Spangenburg, presented Idea Formulation.
MeRG provides workshop programming from January 2023 through June 2024 on research topics and resources. Mentee participants in the program are paired with mentors whose experience and background closely match their research interests. MeRG participants will complete a project of their own choosing and interest of study as part of their participation in the program.
Office of Faculty Affairs & Leadership Development
Cookie Decorating Event
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Master Educators
The three Master Educator Award winners were announced during a Brody faculty meeting on Feb. 16, during which each winner received a white coat featuring a master educator designation, a plaque and master educator pin.
The school’s Master Educator Program recognizes excellence in leadership and administration, teaching contribution or mentorship, innovation and curriculum development, evaluation and research, professional development in education, and educational contributions by community physicians.
Click here to read the full story by Spaine Stephens, News Services. Photo credit to ECU® Photos.
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OFALD Yoga Session
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Memoir Writing Kick-Off
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TQA: Executive Functioning Session
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Skills for Networking
In partnership with the ECU Cunanan Center for Professional Success, OFALD hosted an event on March 14th, aimed at sharpening the networking skills of attendees. Participants enjoyed heavy appetizers and the chance to practice the tips at a mixer. The session was attended by faculty, staff and students from the BSOM.
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Therapeutic Ponies at BSOM!
Faculty, staff and students were visited by therapeutic ponies during the lunch hour at the school of medicine. The event was hosted on the lawn outside of the school, and a great time was had by all!
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Hatchet Throwing Mixer with faculty, staff, and students!
So much fun was had at Stumpy's Hatchet House with faculty, staff, and students. This event allowed for fellowship and meeting new people here at BSOM!
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BSOM Bibliophiles, please note:
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Educator of Distinction Award
The Educator of Distinction Award is designed to recognize excellence in education for staff members. The award is presented by the Master Educator Committee to one non-faculty recipient each year. Candidates can be nominated for this prestigious award by anyone from BSOM, including their chair, peers or previous learners. Following nomination, the staff member must provide their personal philosophy of education along with a minimum of 5 evaluations of direct teaching experience. The committee reviews the application.
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Communicating With Head Start Families about Children's Weight Status: A Phenomenological Approach
Since 2018, Dana Shefet has been working in the community to address Head Start (HS) parents’ understanding of their children’s growth and risk for overweight/obesity. The issue was brought to her attention by the local HS program Nutrition Manager who was concerned about the limited resources she had available to communicate information to families about their children's weight status. With Dana at the helm, the conversation with this community partner led to a larger qualitative multi-state (NC and OH) study exploring the issue more broadly. Dana has been working with Head Start in Eastern NC since her freshman year of undergrad, giving weekly nutrition lessons to kids and helping with Health Fairs throughout the summers. She conducted 29 interviews with HS programs shedding light on how they communicate with families about their children’s weight status.
This study has generated much interest by other nutrition researchers working with Head Start programs. A working group (supported by Robert Wood Johnson Healthy Eating Research) was established in 2019 and a nation-wide survey study conducted to further explore the issue. Dana has been an integral part of the team helping to develop the study, analyze the data, and prepare a manuscript for publication, where she was ultimately listed as a co-author as well.
Click here to read more about the study.
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Triangle Consortium for
Reproductive Biology
East Carolina University® hosted the 31st annual Triangle Consortium for Reproductive Biology at the East Carolina Heart Institute. Associate Professor in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Dr. Christopher Geyer, chaired this event. PhD student, Emma Gilbert, tied for first place and won a Campion Fund Award for her poster presentation, “Defining the essential role of the RNA-binding protein RBM46 in preparing male germ cells for meiosis.”
Click here to read the full News Services article
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Notable Alum Spotlights
OFALD celebrates BSOM faculty, staff or students who earned one or more degrees at ECU.
If you know a BSOM employee or student who has received one or more degrees at ECU or are an ECU alum and would like to be featured, email us at facdevsom@ecu.edu.
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Above and Beyond Spotlights
OFALD highlights BSOM faculty, staff or students who go above and beyond in their role(s).
If you would like to nominate a BSOM employee or student to be featured in the Above & Beyond Spotlight, please send info to facdevsom@ecu.edu.
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OFALD Authorship Poster Series
Congratulations to Professor and Chair Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Dr. Sy Atezaz Saeed, for publishing his book, Textbook of Psychiatric Administration and Leadership.
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Shout-Out!
Assistant Professor in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Dr. Alessandro Didonna, received the R03 grant from The National Institutes of Health/The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The title is, "Development of a conditional ataxin-1 knockout mouse line."
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease which represents the first cause of non-traumatic brain injury among young adults. More than 200 genes have been found to be associated with an increased risk of developing MS. In Dr. Didonna's previous research, he was able to describe the mechanism by which one of these risk genes known as ataxin-1 (ATXN1) is able to modulate the autoimmune response. In this grant, he proposed to generate a new mouse model which allows to study the role of ataxin-1 in selected cell populations and developmental stages. This novel research tool will be critical to dissect the function of ataxin-1 in the immune system upon an autoimmune attack.
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Upcoming Opportunities
Medical Education Day
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Teachers of Quality Academy 7.0: Now Accepting Applications!
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Fit Steps for Teaching Workshop
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Introduction to Calligraphy
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Pirate™ Map to Teaching Excellence
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MBTI
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OFALD Summer Roll on Up Event
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Ginger
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Coffee Break: Getting Started with H5P
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Universal Design for Learning
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Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Series
The ECU Office for Faculty Excellence and the ECU Faculty Senate are excited to offer workshops for the 2022-2023 Academic Year. Most sessions will be recorded and posted to this site. Click the link here to register. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this series, please contact the ECU Office for Faculty Excellence at ofe@ecu.edu or (252) 328-1426.
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Check out the
Office for Faculty Excellence's
Grant Writing Series
The Office for Faculty Excellence has joined with campus partners to offer a Grant Writing Series. To attend any or all sessions from intro to grant-making, to proposals, reviewers, eTRACS, funding and more, register HERE.
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Activate your FREE membership to the
NCFDD
The National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) has on-demand access to mentoring, tools and support for faculty. Need to activate your free membership?
1) Go to http://www.FacultyDiversity.org/Join
2) Choose your institution from the drop-down menu.
3) Select “Activate my Membership”
4) Complete the registration form using your ecu.edu email address (i.e. @ecu.edu)
5) Go to your ecu.edu email to find a confirmation email. Click “Activate Account” in the confirmation email
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Visit the Office of Faculty Affairs & Leadership Development Website
ADA Accommodation: 252-737-1018 / ada-coordinator@ecu.edu
Credits:
Photos of Kay Craven, Dana Shefet, Alessandro Didonna; Emma Gilbert: Christopher Geyer: ECU Photos