Summer 2016:
Welcome to the Summer 2016 Issue of the Academies Collaborative Newsletter

As our membership grows and our central Steering Committee becomes more formalized, we are developing a forum for networking, information, and topical issues for Academies. In this issue, we share progress on one of our affiliated projects, provide announcements and requests, and profile one of our member organizations. 
In This Issue
From the Editors: Updates on websites, new member organizations, and Annual Meeting reminder.
Academy Spotlight: Jim Lewis, Chair of the U of Tennessee School of Medicine's Academy of Scholars, describes his experience in starting up a new Academy.
​Delphi Study Update: Jasmine Rana reports on the progress of a Delphi study to identify core elements of a Student-as-Teacher curriculum.
Call for Reviewers! : A number of Academies have asked for help from outside reviewers in assessing new member applications. This is a great way for us to help and get to know other member organization. A sign-up form is at the bottom of this page.
Updates on the Annual Meeting in Seattle: For the first time, members who wish to attend our annual meeting can register through the AAMC website. Remember that space is limited so please sign up early!

From the Editors

We are happy to have received lots of positive comments on our newsletter and website. Since our initial launch this spring, we have had a lot of activity: a call for participation in research was responded to with great enthusiasm, and we have asked the investigators to report their progress in this edition of the newsletter; ten new organizations have contacted us to ask to have their organization represented on our "Member Organizations" page; the Executive Committee has been working hard to develop an engaging and productive agenda for this year's meeting, and this is also described here.

We remind ourselves here of the goals of our Academies Collaborative, listed below. We hope that each issue of our newsletter and the different resources offered here will allow us to serve our members and meet the following key goals, specifically to:  
  • Provide a mechanism for academies to share information about function, structure, and best practices.
  • Establish an advising system among academy members.
  • Facilitate collaboration on academy conferences or institutional initiatives.
  • Foster multi-institutional educational research, especially research designed to investigate the effectiveness or outcomes of academies or their initiatives.
  • Recognize and celebrate successes of individual academies.

​As always, we welcome your contributions in the form of suggestions, comments, and contributions to the Newsletter and Collaborative Forum.
And if you haven't yet signed up for our annual meeting, please look at the Annual Meeting page on the navigation bar and sign up soon!! Hope to see you there.

​Best regards,

Amy Sullivan, EdD
Todd Zakrajsek, PhD
2015-2016 Co-Chairs

Academy Spotlight

In each issue, we feature one of our Academies Collaborative member organizations. This issue profiles a newly-formed Academy at the University of Tennessee, directed by James Lewis, MD. Click here to read about Academy of Scholars.
Would you like to have your organization profiled in upcoming issues?  Please let us know at acadcollab@gmail.com. 

Delphi Study Update

This brief is an update on a study affiliated with the Collaborative. A group of Collaborative members recently participated in a Delphi study. The study aims to determine a curriculum for an innovative teaching model at the Harvard School of Medicine, the Student-as-teacher (SaT) program. To read more, click here.​

New Collaborative Forum

The Academies Collaborative has a new forum! The Collaborative Forum is the new spot for members and non-members alike to post ideas, comment on other posts, and generate discussion on various topics pertinent to academies. When in the forum, click on the Comments tab of the topic that you would like to post in. You will then be able to create your comment and, following approval by the Steering Committee, your comment will be posted. As always, please let us know your thoughts by emailing acadcollab@gmail.com.    

Call for Reviewers!

​Both new and established academies have expressed a need for external reviewers for their membership applications. Those who agree to be reviewers will assist in the evaluation of applications for membership. Some Academies, such as the University of Utah, consider being an external reviewer as service, one requirement of membership. For those interested in being an external reviewer, please email the Academies Collaborative at acadcollab@gmail.com or just fill out the form below:

    Reviewer sign-up

Annual Meeting 2016
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​REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Our 2016 meeting is scheduled for November 11, 2016 from 9 am-12 pm in Seattle, at the start of the AAMC Annual Meeting. Go to the Annual Meeting page for details.

New Members- Welcome!

The Collaborative has experienced tremendous growth this year. With outreach efforts, including a website redesign, ten new academies have joined, while other institutions have expressed interest in developing their own academies. Our new members have access to the resources and connections of the Collaborative. From networking and forum discussions to materials for academy growth, we hope all our member academies, both new and established, find their affiliation with the Collaborative fruitful. We look forward to serving our members and developing further in the near future!

To see our member organizations, click here. 

Networking

A central goal of the Steering Committee is to foster networking among members of the Collaborative. Collectively, we have a wealth of experience, ideas, and practices that we can share to enhance the impact of Academies at the local, national, and international levels.

At the Annual Meeting in November, there will be time to connect with other academies and health professions education leaders. Through our website, we hope to foster partnerships and collaborations on research projects and initiatives. With the newly- developed Forum, members will now have an opportunity to collaborate on projects, learn of other academies' practices, and network with other institutions.   

We will post opportunities here and invite you to send us notices about potential research projects or programmatic initiatives. We invite you to send links, requests, or resources you would like to share to our email at acadcollab@gmail.com. Also, you can use the Forum and post announcements using whichever category is most appropriate.