Were you unable to attend the Indiana University School of Medicine Spring Faculty Meeting on May 1? Never fear! Faculty Steering Committee President Dan Rusyniak, MD has some highlights to share from the meeting.
Dan Rusyniak, MD
What are your big takeaways from the Spring Faculty Meeting?
Increasing and change are the two words I would use to highlight the presentations.
- We are increasing our residency programs to sites outside of Indianapolis including Lafayette, Jasper and Vincennes.
- There has been an increase in our NIH grants and philanthropic contributions.
- We have increased our web presence, interactions with alumni, and student diversity.
There are other exciting changes.
- We are starting the third year of our new curriculum.
- The school has spent the last year developing a new five-year strategic plan.
- We have changed how money flows from the health system to the school and to individual departments.
What are the big proposed changes to the Faculty Steering Committee?
The FSC has approved two separate constitutional changes.
- One change would alter the makeup of the FSC. Currently almost half of the 22 voting members of the FSC are derived from the 10 standing committees that the FSC oversees (each committee gets one voting member). We would eliminate this and instead have each department elect a representative to serve as a voting member of the FSC. Larger departments (more than 100 faculty) would get additional reps for each additional 100 faculty (e.g. departments with 300-399 faculty get three reps). In addition, we would increase the number of regional reps from two to four and create non-voting positions for leaders in each of the health care systems (Eskenazi Health, IU Health, IU Health Physicians and the VA).
- The other major change would be to give part-time faculty the right to vote and run for office. While this would only affect a small number of faculty (approximately 130 out of around 2,300), it is an important step to increase the involvement of valuable faculty who often need to work part-time to care for children or parents.
How will the voting process work for these FSC changes?
- All full-time faculty and affiliate faculty are eligible to vote.
- The vote will occur during the next annual faculty elections for the 2019-2020 academic year.
- Approval of these proposed amendments to the constitution would require at least a two-thirds majority of voters supporting the changes. There will be opportunities for faculty to ask questions regarding these changes prior to the vote. Stay tuned for more information!
What other changes can faculty expect with FSC in the months to come?
As we approach summer, the FSC will be focusing on transitioning the leadership to the incoming president Brittney-Shea Herbert, PhD, and incoming secretary Yar (Samantha) Yeap, MD. We will be finishing up some work including creating a budgetary advisory group, discussing changes to IU Health Physicians with Dr. Dave Ingram and reviewing the annual reports of several school committees. Keep an eye out for the May YOS (your obedient servant) newsletter for updates.
