April 2014
Chief Operating Officer
- The University has now finalized the Spring Budget. Thank you to the entire Finance Team, Chairs, Chair/Chiefs and all Directors, Administrative Officers and Managers for your excellent work and cooperation.
- Welcome to Betty Holme who joined us May 5, 2014 as the new Director, Organizational Effectiveness. She will be setting up meetings with many of you in the coming week.
- Mark you calendars for Wednesday, June 4, for our final Town Hall for this academic year. We will be sharing reports from a few of our administrative units and also sharing an update on our Strategic Plan.
Media Relations
- Please check out the new Media Relations webpages as part of the Communications website. In addition to posting news releases, the page now features an In the News section featuring some of the news stories about our School and its faculty.
- We received great media turnout for the recognition event for Dr. Robert Murray and his late wife Marion who left $1.6 million to help graduate students in Microbiology and Immunology and Pathology. Stories ran on CTVtwo, CBC Ontario Morning and in the London Free Press and Metro newspapers.
Dentistry
- Entrance interviews for Dentistry occurred during the weekend of April 12. Overall, we had 585 applicants and 186 applicants were interviewed. (In order to be invited for the interview, the minimum average was 87% based on the applicant's two best years on record as of the application deadline). Each applicant was interviewed by a three member team consisting of: one dentist, one community representative and one senior dental student. Thank you to everyone involved.
- Meetings and plans are underway for the Grad Ortho renovation and expansion.
Research
- On May 22, we will be holding a workshop for researchers in pillars 3/4 who are eligible for the CIHR Foundation Pilot.
- A record number of undergraduate medical students will be engaging in research in Summer 2014 though Schulich Medicine & Dentistry sponsored programs (SRTP, SROP, SWORP).
- The New Faculty Lecture Series was a tremendous success and we look forward to resuming the series in September.
Human Resources
- Betty Holme has been appointed as Director, Organizational Effectiveness, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry effective May 5, 2014.
Finance
Rosemary Hicks
As conference season approaches, a few tips regarding travel claims in order to ensure adequate back-up and compliance with Corporate policy:
- Please ensure a copy of the conference agenda is provided;
- Hotel accommodation is allowable the night before the conference starts and the day it ends;
- Both the receipt and boarding passes are required for travel;
- Meal receipts must include the detailed listing, not just the credit card receipt with the total. Please ensure names of all the dinner guests are noted;
- For those individuals claiming mileage, please ensure you note the purpose of your travel (meeting, attendees, etc.).
Our fiscal year-end of April 30 has come and gone. It will be the middle of May before Corporate Finance closes the books on the year and we have final numbers. Please note that at the end of this month is when interest is allocated to the Expendable portion (Fund 4) of Endowments.
Basic Medical Sciences
Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education (BMSUE)
Dr. Candace Gibson
- BMSUE is coordinating the development of program outcomes, learning outcomes and curricular maps across the basic medical science undergraduate programs. Departmental representatives will attend a third Program Outcome workshop, developed by TSC, in early June.
- During the Intent to Register period in February and March, 637 students requested Medical Sciences 2; 575 requested Year 3; and 500 students requested Year 4 of the BMSc Program for 2014/15. Requests for the Honours Specialization in Neuroscience are also on target with 60 students requesting Year 2; 35 requesting Year 3; and 17 students requesting progression to Year 4.
- Adjudication will be the major focus for the month. In addition to determining student eligibility for ITR choices as outlined above, approximately 400 BMSc students will be adjudicated for graduation and the winners of Gold Medals and Named Award will be finalized.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Dr. Andrew Watson
- Thirteen outstanding graduate students will represent the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Western University at the Canadian Student Health Research Forum (CSHRF) at the University of Manitoba in June 2014. Congratulations to Christine Di Cresce (Microbiology and Immunology), Adrienne Elbert (Biochemistry), Victoria Fell (Biochemistry), William Hrinivich (Medical Biophysics), Jessica Kishimoto (Medical Biophysics), Benjamin Kolisnyk (Neuroscience), Sarah Mattonen (Medical Biophysics), Paxton Moon (Physiology and Pharmacology), Matthew Quinn (MD/PhD, Medical Biophysics), Adam Rabalski (Biochemistry) and Sarah Svenningsen (Medical Biophysics). All PhD students were selected from their presentations at London Health Research Day 2014.
Communications
- Welcome to new team members: Paige Mastalerz joined the team as an assistant, and is working with Communications and Facilities three days a week. Laura Newton has joined the team on a temporary basis and is working on events, and Emily Leighton who had been working with the team on a contract basis accepted a full-time position as a Communications Coordinator.
- A new edition of the Dean's Video newsletter was posted this month outlining the important changes to the funding model for clinical departments. If you haven’t had a chance to watch this important video, you can view it here.
- Dr. Lorelei Lingard, CERI, is the latest "Profile of Excellence". In her video profile she speaks about her research on the language in health care teams.
- David Holdsworth, PhD, captivated an audience of 70 at the first Discover Robarts Community Presentation on April 3. His presentation included a tour of the imaging facilities and a sneak peek at some of the emerging science being done at Robarts.
- The Communications Team has successfully launched 13 new websites including the main Schulich Medicine & Dentistry website, education programs, as well as clinical and basic science departments. We have begun meeting with members of our Phase Two launch group. We will continue to refine and modify the website slightly based on feedback and to ensure optimal user-friendliness. Please send any website feedback to kristin.tate@Schulich.uwo.ca
- The team proudly planned and presented the Windsor Awards of Excellence event which took place on April 14. It was a wonderful event, attended by more than 200 people and celebrating the tremendous faculty, staff and students who are part of the Schulich Windsor Program.
Information Services
- Schulich Information Services continues to pilot Virtual Desktops. We are currently testing this technology in a graduate student computer lab (in addition to our fall pilot in the VERC). If testing goes well, the objective would be to replace the current computers in that particular lab with virtual desktops.
- Schulich Information Services worked with PMO and OneForm stakeholders to launch a new set of features in the OneForm module in SAS on April 14, including functionality to assist with hiring summer students.
- In early April, Schulich Information Services asked the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry community to help us improve our customer service by letting us know how we are doing by completing our new (and permanently available) customer feedback form. Thank you to all those who took the time to complete it. We would also like to remind you that the form is always available (from the Schulich IS web page) - we are always happy to hear from you!
Project Management Office/Strategic Technology Commons
- Registration is open for an additional two-day 'Focus' workshop (Process Improvement & Management Methodology & Tools) on June 25 & 26). If you would like to participate, please send your request to pmo.inquiry@schulich.uwo.ca to register. There will likely be a hiatus for the summer unless we have sufficient requests to run additional workshops through the summer - feedback has been great, so please, if you are interested, register so we can gauge of demand.
- Additional resources related to the process workshops have been added to the PMO website, so please check them out.
- Welcome Sue Morgan to the role of Instructional Trainer STC, replacing Deb Tieszer for the period of her secondment. Sue can be reached at x81415 or susan.morgan@schulich.uwo.ca, or stc@schulich.uwo.ca and is located in Clinical Skills Building, Rm. 2720. The SOP workshop will be one of her first projects to offer, stay tuned or contact her for more information. Remember you can e-mail stc@schulich.uwo.ca for any consultation requests related to instructional design or training.
Education
- The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) conference was a great success for Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. Our learners took home top honours again this year for their posters (a first & second place in the UME category and a first place in the resident category). A workshop hosted by DME Manager Patricia Potter and Dr. Margaret Steele to explore the potential to develop a national network was well-received and the conference committee has agreed to work to develop an administrator’s program stream for the 2015 conference.
- DME and CPD hosted a successful collaborative Teaching Retreat on April 4 and 5 in Grand Bend. More than 40 DME preceptors attended the session; the first day of the retreat was opened by keynote speaker, Dr. Deepak Dath who spoke to the CanMEDS 2015 model, followed by a series of interactive small group workshops on a range of relevant preceptor topics. The second day saw participants engaged in facilitated discussions on teaching, evaluation and research in DME.
- The new UME Visiting Student Elective (VSE) platform has launched. The VSE Program now offers four different electives periods from which students may choose to apply. Application times for each of the four periods are outlined on the VSE Website. Programs are now required to provide their available capacity, with all such capacities updated on the VSE Website regularly. For more information click here.
- The 2nd iteration of CaRMS occurred on April 15, 2014. Western filled all nine remaining spots; PGME looks forward to the new cohort of residents that will begin on July 1, 2014.
Alumni Relations and Development
- As of April, the team raised $12,645,000 in support for priorities related to the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. The final, fiscal year-end total will be tabulated by mid-May.
- Restructuring of the team continues. There was vigorous response to the job posting (Globe & Mail, LinkedIn, etc.) for the Executive Director of Development to lead the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Development team. The first phase of applicant job interviews are taking place now.
- As the fiscal year draws to a close, the Development Team would like to extend our sincere appreciation for the support of faculty, staff and students in response to requests for assistance and information. All funds received in support of education, research, programs and infrastructure are the result of your inspiration, work, and willingness to allow us to share your stories.
