Operations Update September 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Chief Operation Officer
Dwayne Martins

  • Please be reminded that the new zero based budget process starts this budget cycle and that a detailed mapping of your expected costs and revenues are a critical aspect of its successful implementation. There will be little opportunity for much, if any, variance to the budget once it is set throughout the fiscal year.
  • A town hall meeting will be organized for this Fall.
  • We look forward to a number of initiatives which began a year ago, and are now further maturing. You will continue to be updated as these projects move forward.


Project Management Office/Strategic Technology Commons
Dale Shelley

  • Upon request, Deb Tieszer, STC, is available to provide training or overviews of OWL & Blackboard Collaborate. Both the Master of Public Health Orientation and the Paediatric Preceptor Retreat benefited from her expertise related to these tools. STC's Jay Loftus & Weikai Huang are also available to provide their expertise. They are currently working on myPortfolio, as well as working with faculty related to the new academic year. Click here to read the STC article in the latest issue of the Pulse.
  • Through a collaborative approach, the OneForm Phase 2 requirements have been prioritized. The PMO would like to thank all those who worked through the requirements with us to bring it to this stage.
  • Following up on our facilitation certification for the two-day 'Focus' workshop (Process Improvement & Management Methodology), the PMO will be out of the office the week of October 7, participating in an intensive change management training course. This course will allow us to further incorporate these competencies into our overall process work/training and to be a further resource to Schulich Medicine & Dentistry.


Alumni Relations and Development
Mark Foresi

  • Gillian Sneddon, director development, and Mark Foresi, associate director, development, have been selected as session speakers for the 2014 AAMC conference on Institutional Advancement. They will discuss strategies in building a culture of philanthropy.
  • Homecoming 2013 was a resounding success. More than 500 alumni, friends, faculty and staff attended homecoming festivities. We began the day with an Open House, where alumni toured the facilities and had an opportunity to meet with current students. We capped the evening with our 3rd Annual Dean's Gala, celebrating the remarkable achievements of our alumni.


Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education
Doug Jones

Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education (BMSUE)

  • Candace Gibson, Joan Estabrooks and Kathy Boon represented the Basic Medical Sciences at the Ontario Universities' Fair held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, September 27 - 29. This is the primary recruiting event for Ontario Universities and Colleges, with a final attendance number for the three days exceeding 121,000 visitors.
  • Western's Fall Preview Day will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2013. Organizers anticipate more than 11,000 guests (high school students and their families) will attend this one-day event to view the campus and speak to program representatives. The Basic Medical Science departmental displays will be located on the main floor of the Medical Sciences Building between 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. In addition, presentations about the Undergraduate Programs and Schulich Medicine & Dentistry will be held throughout the day.
  • Dr. Sarah McLean will present the concept of the "Flipped Classroom" at the CERI Annual Research Symposium on October 10 and at the TaPs at King's Blended Learning Conference on November 1. This model is currently used in the fourth-year undergraduate Medical Sciences 4200F/G course. Dr. McLean is also planning an E-learning workshop for Schulich Medicine & Dentistry faculty on incorporating technology into teaching.
  • Over the next several weeks, online tools to provide faculty, staff and students with information about the Basic Medical Sciences courses and modules will be developed.

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

  • Drs. Strong, Watson and Jones welcomed our new graduate trainees and postdoctoral scholars at the welcome event, September 12 at the Grad Club. We had trainees attend from all graduate programs, and it was a pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you to all who could make it.
  • The London Health Research Day 2014 academic planning committee would like to remind you to save the date: March 18, 2014. The first call for trainee abstracts will be November 15, 2013.
  • The new graduate application went live October 7. Please note that SGPS will be providing dedicated assistance to all applicants through a new number (519.850.2341) and e-mail address (gradapps@uwo.ca). Please make sure all websites are now directing applicants to the new website, as all references to OUAC are now out-of-date.


Communications
Jennifer Parraga

  • The preliminary site maps have been approved by our three stakeholder groups. The project has moved into user testing. We will be meeting with various faculty, staff and students within the School to ensure testing covers a variety of users. Following user testing, we will begin developing the phase one websites and conducting training sessions. Training sessions will be scheduled for November.
  • The concept for the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry homepage has been developed. Click here to view the mockup. Please note: some content is for placement only - such content is indicated on the map. When viewing the mockup, please consider the website navigation (purple bar), the content in the right side bar, the links and tools in the "Popular Links" section and the overall layout. Please send your feedback regarding the mockup to kristin.tate@schulich.uwo.ca
  • The new format for the Operations Update has been well received. Using the new format, we are able to collect information about who is reading the email. The September Operations update was opened by more than half of the recipients with 167 email opens. More than 60% of recipients who opened the email, clicked a link.
  • We completed a video profiling the Summer Student Research Program in Dentistry highlighting the important role that research plays in the training of future dentists. Click here to watch. We have also finished the September edition of the Dean's Video Newsletter profiling our simulation education and training. Click here to watch.
  • Work started this month on producing a video profiling the vascular biology group at Robarts Research Institute to be showcased at the Leaders in Innovation Dinner in November.
  • Mini Medical School kicked off on October 3 with a lecture hosted by Dr. Jerry Battista, Professor and Chair, Medical Biophysics. With 185 attendees registered this year, we look forward to a great turnout at the coming weekly lectures.
  • Our new swag and merchandise have been very popular. The Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Roots sweatshirt quickly sold out and we have started a wait list for the next order. Click here to view our merchandise page.


Dentistry
Sharon Rasul

  • The Dentistry Faculty Council Meeting took place on October 7
  • Schulich Dentistry Research Day was held on October 9 and was a huge success, featuring student poster presentations and the 12th John T. Hamilton Lecture delivered by Dr. Peter X. Ma, MSc, PhD.
  • The Fall Awards Ceremony will be hosted October 29. This annual event recognizes the academic achievements of students and faculty during the previous year.


Education
John Ruicci

  • Education's Learner Equity & Wellness Office played a leading support role in this year's orientation of the incoming Medical and Dental students. The expanded O-Week held for Meds 2017 was coordinated with Admissions, UME, the Hippocratic Council and the Windsor Program. The anecdotal feedback suggested that O-Week was a huge success. Highlights of the events of the week can be seen by clicking here.
  • CPD has submitted its third annual interim report to CACME (Committee on Accreditation of CME) to address one remaining area of partial compliance since receiving full accreditation status in April 2010. CPD's next accreditation site survey will occur in Fall 2014, with dates to be determined.
  • The Master of Public Health Program had a very successful orientation week and first week of classes. The MPH Program has 32 students confirmed for its first year and has now settled into its new home at The Western Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine.


Facilities
Kevin Inchley

  • Family Medicine, Master of Public Health and the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine successfully moved into The Western Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine on September 20, 23 and 24. Deficiency work is ongoing. The official opening of the building will occur on October 16.


Human Resources
Theresa Mugimba

  • Dr. Terri Paul has been reappointed as Associate Dean, Learner Equity & Wellness, effective September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2018.


Finance
Rosemary Hicks

  • As budget season is upon us, it seems to be the focus for the next few weeks. Everyone should have received the budget files with the due date of October 25, 2013. If you have any questions regarding the budget, please feel free to contact either Katey Senese, Barb Sandford, Sharon Rasul or myself.
  • We have met with a few departments so far on the budgets and just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to prepare for these meetings. We understand that this is a new approach for some departments and we will continue to work together to refine this process.

Information Services
Sergio Rodriguez

  • Our web development team worked with an interdepartmental group to implement the ability to attach a CV to the clinical faculty application web form. They also redesigned and improved the online form used for students and other users of our VERC facility to add print credits to their login accounts. In addition to this, the web team has developed a weekly release schedule for new and updated web features to better serve our clients. New features and update requests will be developed and worked on from Thursdays through Wednesdays. They will then be included in the following Monday's release.
  • Our edtech team has been working with our colleagues in Windsor to ensure that medical education lectures and events are continuing to be delivered and running smoothly during the CUPE strike at University of Windsor.
  • Our desktop application team, working with our colleagues in UME, successfully implemented a new process to gather clerkship grades and comments (by automatic imports from one45). September marked the end of the first academic year for this new method which saved the UME office a significant amount of time.


Media Relations
Kathy Wallis

  • We are preparing for the official opening of The Western Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine on October 16 at 10:30 a.m. with special guest, the Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Everyone is welcome to take a tour of the beautiful new building from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  • Rogers Television is videotaping portions of Mini Medical School for a segment on Western Revealed which will air in November.
  • A few of our best media hits for the past month include: Dr. Ruth Lanius in the Ottawa Citizen, Ed Lui in the Globe and Mail, Dr. Matthew Hebb in the Windsor Star , International Business Times (UK) and London Free Press and Rob Gros in Medical Express and Science World Report.


Research
Mady Hymowitz

  • We are pleased to welcome Dr. Kevin O'Neil as a Research Officer in the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Research Office. Kevin holds a doctorate in Physical/Analytical Chemistry and a bachelor in Materials Science, both from Western. He has worked with several departments on campus and with industry as a surface science expert on several projects ranging from nanoscale engineering of solar and biomedical devices to corrosion mechanisms in nuclear fuel containers. Kevin can be contacted at kevin.oneil@schulich.uwo.ca or by phone at 519.661.2111 ext. 83755.
  • Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Research Town Hall on September 24 with Dr. Denise Figlewicz, Vice-Dean, Research & Innovation. Click here to download a PDF of the Powerpoint presentation from the town all.
  • Outreach activities to facilitate industry interactions are continuing, including coordination of future industry visits to Schulich Medicine & Dentistry.
  • The New Faculty Lecture Series began in October with a talk by Dr. Steve Kerfoot, Microbiology and Immunology. This seminar series was launched to showcase our new faculty. The next talk in this new monthly seminar will be on November 1 and will feature Dr. Patrick Lajoie, Anatomy and Cell Biology.