School of Medicine Announces Names of Four
Colleges Advisory/Clinical Skills Programs
Naming Announcement | The Program | Goals | Faculty | Naming Information
What is the Colleges Program?
The Colleges Program was launched in August 2005 by Dr. David Nichols, Vice Dean of Education, with the support of the Dean of Faculty, Dr. Edward Miller, and in collaboration with Dr. Pat Thomas, Associate Dean for Curriculum, Dr. Tom Koenig, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, and the Medical Student Society. The program is intended to provide every medical student with a dedicated and longitudinal advisor/mentor. From a social perspective, groups are organized around student-faculty pairings to enhance student-faculty and student-student interaction. Robert Shochet, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, joined the full-time faculty in July, 2005 as Director of the Colleges Program and is overseeing this effort.
Twenty-four physicians in the medical school now hold positions as "Core Colleges Faculty." These 24 physicians devote 20 percent of their time as longitudinal advisors to five students in each medical school class, as well as serving as a small group preceptor for their students in the Year 2 Clinical Skills course. This arrangement offers students a unique opportunity to learn the fundamental skills of medicine and lessons in professionalism and humanism from a trusted advisor, as well as building valued student-faculty connections.
Students and faculty are organized into four colleges. Each college is currently populated by 120 students (30 from each class), six core faculty, and will have a faculty and student leader. A wider welcome to the Hopkins medical faculty is currently in progress to expand the network of faculty offering mentoring, teaching, research, and advisory connections to students. Students within each college will soon be organizing themselves for social activities, as well as beginning a student mentorship program, where Year 3 and Year 4 students form connections with the students in Years 1 and 2. Discussions are currently underway as to the geographic space the Colleges may occupy in the Education Building planned for 2008.
Incoming students meet their core faculty advisors at Orientation and subsequently see them for both advisory meetings and informal get-togethers on a regular basis. Advisors may also help students become familiar with the Baltimore community. Academic counseling will be offered to assist students in learning "the roadmap" of medical education. Social events will be held for each college several times per year, so students get to know fellow students, including those more senior and junior.
When students are in their second year, the core advisors become the students' Clinical Skills instructors and see them on a weekly basis. In the third and fourth years, faculty may assist in career counseling, finding additional mentors to satisfy emerging interests and writing recommendation letters as desired by the student.
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