Curriculum Committee

The Committee is responsible to:

• establish and approve the education program objectives and to review and reaffirm or alter them during each review of the full curriculum;
• design, manage, and evaluate the undergraduate medical program to ensure the education program objectives are met in accordance with the mission and vision of the School of Medicine and the requirements of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools;
• establish a process for reviewing, evaluating, and revising each segment of the curriculum on a recurring timeline to ensure that the curriculum is integrated, coherent, coordinated, current, and effective;
• establish performance standards for instructors, requiring faculty development efforts, and evaluating instructor performance;
• advise the Dean of the School of Medicine on resources required to support the curriculum;
• establish performance standards required for promotion and graduation.

Meetings

The Chair shall convene and preside over Committee meetings. The Vice-Chair shall convene and preside over Committee meetings in the absence of the Chair. Regular meetings are scheduled every Monday afternoon from 4-5 pm unless there is a national holiday. Meetings are scheduled weekly except in July. At the Chair’s discretion during this time, emergent Committee business may be transacted electronically.

Voting/Quorum

The views of all members of the Committee will be heard during deliberations, but only those members with voting privileges shall vote. Although more than two SMEC representatives can attend the meetings, when issues that require voting occur, only one representative from Phase 1 (pre-clerkship) and one from Phase 2 and 3 (clerkship/post-clerkship) can vote.

A quorum for the curriculum committee is constituted when a simple majority (greater than 50%) of voting members is present, including the chair. The chair votes only to break a tie. The chair may conduct an electronic vote should an urgent decision be needed.

Minutes

Meeting minutes are posted in VMED and are sent directly to the education administration.
Curriculum Committee – MD Program (virginia.edu)

The Committee is comprised of faculty from the Charlottesville and Inova campuses. There are seven voting ex-officio faculty members and four voting ex-officio student members, twelve voting at-large faculty members and six non-voting faculty advisory resources. Of the twelve at-large faculty members, ten are from the main campus, and two are from the regional campus. By virtue of their positions, the following are voting members of the Committee:

• Associate Dean for Curriculum (Chair)—votes only to break a tie
• Associate Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Scholarship
• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency
• Chairs, Phase 1 Subcommittee (2)
•  Chair, Phase 2 Subcommittee (this is Associate Dean for Curriculum already listed)
• Chair, Phase 3 Subcommittee
• Thread Leader Representative
• President, Mulholland Society
• Student Medical Education Committee (SMEC) representatives (2)
• Inova Academic Student Representative

By virtue of their positions, the following are non-voting, advisory resources to the committee:

• Director of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
• Director, Clinical Performance Education Center
• Assistant Dean for Curriculum—Inova campus
• Director of Education Technology
• Director of Curriculum Evaluation
• Director of Academic Enhancement

Appointment of At-Large Members

At-large members are elected from the School of Medicine (SOM) Charlottesville and Inova faculty based on their sustained interest and active participation in undergraduate medical education (UME) and shall not hold a current SOM administrative position. Elections for the Charlottesville faculty will be held annually over the summer as needed to maintain ten members. There is an annual request to the faculty for self-nominations to fill any open at-large positions. This call will include committee member responsibilities and requirements. Interested faculty may send the Chair a letter of intent outlining their desire to participate, explaining their teaching experiences and describing their visions and view for medical education. The School of Medicine’s 23 elected Faculty Senate representatives will elect at-large members from the slate provided by the Chair to ensure a broad faculty perspective in the Committee’s decision-making.

The two at-large faculty members from the Inova Campus are selected in a parallel process which includes self-nomination by interested candidates followed by selection by the medical education leadership team at the Inova Campus.

Committee Member Responsibilities

All Committee members are expected to contribute to the Committee’s activities and attend at least two-thirds (2/3) of regular meetings during an academic year. The Chair shall review attendance annually to determine whether each member’s responsibility has been met. Failure to participate as required will jeopardize committee membership.

Student Members

There are four voting student members of the Committee: the President of the Mulholland Society, two representatives of the Student Medical Education Committee (one representing Phase 1 and one representing Phase 2 and 3) and the Inova academic student representative.

Terms

The Chair serves at the discretion of the Dean of the School of Medicine. The Vice-Chair serves for the period of his/her term. The term for at-large faculty is three years, with the potential for one consecutive renewal at the discretion of the Chair. Anyone desiring to continue service to the Committee beyond two terms must wait a period of two years before reapplying.

Additional term renewals could be granted, at the discretion of the chair, to avoid significant overturn of the committee’s membership during a single year. This would assure maintenance of institutional and committee experience.

Appointment of Chair/Selection of Vice-Chair

The Chair shall be the Associate Dean for Curriculum by virtue of the position. At-large members will select one of their group to serve as the Vice-Chair of the Committee.

Resignations

Members who no longer wish to serve on the Curriculum Committee shall submit their resignations in writing to the Chair.

Meetings

The Chair shall convene and preside over Committee meetings. The Vice-Chair shall convene and preside over Committee meetings in the absence of the Chair. Regular meetings are scheduled every Monday afternoon from 4-5 pm unless there is a national holiday. Meetings are scheduled weekly except in July. At the Chair’s discretion during this time, emergent Committee business may be transacted electronically.

Voting/Quorum

The views of all members of the Committee will be heard during deliberations, but only those members with voting privileges shall vote. Although more than two SMEC representatives can attend the meetings, when issues that require voting occur, only one representative from Phase 1 (pre-clerkship) and one from Phase 2 and 3 (clerkship/post-clerkship) can vote.

Minutes

Meeting minutes are posted on VMED and sent to the education administration. Curriculum Committee – MD Program (virginia.edu)

The Phase 1 Subcommittee reports to the Curriculum Committee. This subcommittee has responsibility for developing goals and learning objectives (supporting the education program objectives), instructional methods, and methods of assessment for the individual systems and courses. The subcommittee is responsible for coordination and both horizontal and vertical integration of curricular threads, including basic science and clinical content within and across courses the pre-clerkship phase. The committee engages in continuous curricular review, revision, and innovation. The co-chairs of the committee (2) are elected by the membership of the committee and serve for 3 years with renewable terms by a majority vote of the membership. The committee meets monthly. All recommendations from this subcommittee must be reviewed and approved by the Curriculum Committee.

The ex-officio membership includes:

• System Leaders, voting
• Director of Foundations of Clinical Medicine-1, voting
• Director of Social Issues in Medicine, voting
• Director of Patient-Student Partnership, voting
• Thread Leaders, non-voting
• Associate Dean for Curriculum, non-voting
• Associate Dean for Assessment, Evaluation, and Scholarship, non-voting
• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency, non-voting
• Director of Curriculum Evaluation, non-voting
• Director of Education Technology, non-voting

The Phase 2 Subcommittee reports to the Curriculum Committee. This subcommittee has responsibility for developing goals and learning objectives (supporting the education program objectives), instructional methods, and methods of assessment for Phase 2 clerkships and courses, for maintaining an organized schedule of teaching/learning activities for students, and for coordinating student feedback and evaluations. The chair is the Associate Dean for Curriculum. The committee meets monthly. Recommendations from this subcommittee must be reviewed and approved by the Curriculum Committee.

  The ex-officio membership includes:

• Clerkship Directors, voting (one vote per clerkship/sub clerkship per campus)
• Associate Dean for Curriculum, voting only in case of a tie
• Associate Dean for Assessment, Evaluation, and Scholarship, non-voting
• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency, non-voting
• Assistant Dean for Curriculum -Inova campus, non-voting
• Director of Patient-Student Partnership, non-voting
• Director of Education Technology Support, non-voting
• Director of Curriculum Evaluation, non-voting

The Phase 3 Subcommittee reports to the Curriculum Committee. This subcommittee has responsibility for reviewing and approving proposed elective courses, and for ensuring that the learning objectives support the education program objectives, that instructional methods and methods of assessment are appropriate for the objectives, and for coordinating student feedback and evaluations. The chair is the Director, Phase 3 Curriculum. Appointments are for three years and are renewable. The committee meets monthly. Recommendations from this subcommittee must be reviewed and approved by the Curriculum Committee.

The voting membership includes:

• Director of the Phase 3 Curriculum, chair
• Associate Dean for Curriculum
• Assistant Dean for Curriculum -Inova campus
• Associate Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Scholarship
• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency
• Three members are elected by the Curriculum Committee from its at-large members-two from the Charlottesville campus and one from the Inova campus

The Assessment Committee reports to the Curriculum Committee and is responsible for the overall assessment philosophy for the curriculum and establishes guidelines and standards for assessment throughout the entire curriculum. The committee ensures reliable and valid assessment methods are used to assess the knowledge, skills and attitudinal/behavioral domains. This committee establishes passing standards for all assessments. The committee regularly reviews equivalence of assessment across all instructional sites and comparability of educational outcomes. Recommendations from this committee must go to the Curriculum Committee for final review and approval.

 The membership is expertise-based, without term and currently includes the following voting members:

• Associate Dean for Assessment, Evaluation, and Scholarship, chair
• Director of Assessment
• Associate Dean for Curriculum
• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency
• Assistant Dean for Curriculum -Inova campus
• Director of Curriculum Evaluation
• Director of Academic Enhancement
• Director of the Clinical Performance Education Center
• College Dean representative
• Two system leaders with expertise in assessment
• Two at large members with expertise in assessment

The Objective Structured Clinical Examinations OSCE Committee is a subcommittee of the Assessment Committee. This committee develops and reviews OSCEs to assess students’ clinical performance in alignment with the educational program objectives. The Committee provides guidance to the Clinical Skills Center staff and oversees implementation of each OSCE. Committee members also participate in standard setting for each exam in alignment with criteria established by the Assessment Committee. The committee oversees development and implementation of remediation activities related to OSCE or CPX.

The voting membership includes:

• Associate Dean for Clinical Competency, chair
• •Associate Dean for Curriculum
• •Assistant Dean for Curriculum -Inova campus
• Director of Assessment
• Director of Foundations of Clinical Medicine-1
• Director of Foundations of Clinical Medicine – 2/3
• Representatives (2) from the Phase 2 Subcommittee, one from each campus
• At-Large Members (6); four from the Charlottesville campus and two from the Inova campus
• Director of the Clinical Skills Center