Representation at the Meeting:
 
 

Anesthesiology
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Frank Markland
Cardiothoracic Surgery	Robbin Cohen
Cell and Neurobiology
Children's Hospital
Emergency Medicine	Michael Orlinsky
Family Medicine
Medicine	Om P. Sharma
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology	Joseph Landolph
Neurological Surgery
Neurology	Patricia G. Anderson
Norris Medical Library	Candice Benjes
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Otolaryngology	Dennis O'Leary
Pathology
Pediatrics
Physiology and Biophysics	Herb Meiselman
Preventive Medicine	Daniel Stram
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences	Bruce Gross, Henry Slucki
Radiation Oncology
Radiology
Rancho Los Amigos Hospital
Surgery
Urology

 

Also attending: Leslie Bernstein, Dwight Warren, Ronald Kaufman

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President Harvey Kaslow at approximately 12:10 PM. The minutes of the August 4, 1998 MFA meeting were distributed.

 

2. Report from the office of senior associate dean of educational affairs.

Dr. Clive Taylor was unable to attend the meeting, but he had provided President Kaslow with information to be shared with the MFA about the upcoming LCME site visit, which is scheduled for November 17, 1999. Dr. Taylor reported that the letter from the LCME had informed the School that the LCME would not require the School to conduct a full self-study at this time. Rather, the LCME would require that the School address areas of concern identified from the previous site visit.

One of these areas of concern arises from the LCME's perception that there are no over-arching principles guiding the curriculum of the School. With respect to this concern, President Kaslow reported that the Educational Policy Committee had just authorized the development of a set of clinical cases to be used as the faculty see fit in medical teaching of the first two years. Dr. Warren (Dean of Curriculum) clarified this authorization by indicating that while the cases would be available for all portions of the curriculum, the EPC was not requiring that they be used, nor were cases meant to be over-arching principles guiding the curriculum..
 
President Kaslow indicated that the Year I/II Curriculum Committee had voted to request access to the text relevant to education from the LCME report of the 1997 site visit. As a result of that vote, the Chair of the Year I/II Committee will be permitted to examine the LCME report with Dr. Taylor and then bring relevant portions back to the committee.
 
In light of this decision, Dr. Meiselman asked whether it would not also be appropriate for a similar sharing with the MFA of text from the LCME report regarding governance. He moved that the MFA recommend that President Kaslow meet with Dr. Taylor or other appropriate University officials to review the governance aspects of the LCME report and bring information back to the MFA. The motion was seconded. Discussion ensued about procedural issues involving such a motion, and it was decided to circulate a written version of this motion for consideration at the next meeting.

Dr. Taylor had also reported to President Kaslow that the newly-renovated medical student lecture halls were in use as of yesterday.

 

3. Report from the office of the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.

Dean Leslie Bernstein reported that 133 valid ballots had been received to date in the referendum regarding the proposed new Governance Document, and that all but 6 were in favor. The balloting will continue until next Tuesday (September 8). Dr. Slucki indicated that some faculty in Psychiatry had not received ballots. Dr. Bernstein asked him to supply her with the names of these faculty so that she could determine if ballots had been sent to these faculty. She stated that, to her knowledge, about 1100 ballots had been mailed to all full-time faculty members who receive a USC paycheck.

In response to a query from the MFA, Dr. Bernstein reported that a new task force is being formed to implement a mentoring program for junior and mid-level faculty, as recommended by the Dean's Task Force on Development of Junior Faculty. Wendy Gilmore has been asked to head the new task force, and recommendations for people to serve on the task force are welcome. Erin Quinn has been sent to a national meeting on mentoring programs, and Dr. Bernstein has also recently attended a meeting where such programs were discussed.
 
Dr. Bernstein's Office is organizing an orientation meeting for new faculty recruited in the last 12 months to be held on September 17. This orientation is intended to become a regular program. In addition, there are plans to hold some sessions to provide information to faculty on the appointments and promotions processes.

President Kaslow asked Dr. Bernstein about the Academic Personnel Policy Document that the Appointments and Promotions Committee is using but which has not been officially approved. Dr. Bernstein indicated that the document should be updated and then official approval sought.
 
Dr. Meiselman asked about the issue of stipends versus raises in faculty base salaries. Drs. Challoner and Kaslow indicated that this issue had been considered at the Finance Committee and as a result, the Chair of the Finance Committee, Dr. Van Der Meulen, had sent a letter to Dean Ryan asking that the Dean inform the Faculty regarding the policy. President Kaslow indicated that the MFA was to receive a copy of this letter, but had not yet received it, and suggested that this issue be put on the agenda for the meeting of the Faculty-at-Large scheduled for October.
 

4. Issues regarding the Joint Task Force regarding Governance.

President Kaslow stated that Dean Ryan had indicated he agreed with MFA Recommendation 1998-99-001 calling for creation of a Joint Task Force regarding Governance. President Kaslow listed issues the Task Force might consider. He also asked for input regarding the process the MFA should use to select its representatives to the task force. It was proposed that a request for nominations be sent to as many School of Medicine faculty members as possible via the new list server, and an election be held at the October or November meeting of the MFA.
 

5. Meeting of the faculty-at-large: october 6, 1998

After lively and humorous discussion, it was decided to schedule the meeting of the Faculty-at-Large for 7:00 AM on October 6, 1998. This early time should enable more clinical faculty members to attend. Dr. Bernstein indicated that the Dean's Office will provide coffee. The spring meeting of the Faculty-at-Large will be scheduled later in the day.
 

6. Reports regarding activities of the Academic Senate

During the previous academic year, the Academic Senate proposed to the Administration extensive revisions to the Faculty Handbook. President Kaslow circulated proposed changes from Vice-Provost Martin Levine to the proposed revisions. The document had been provided to Dr. Kaslow by Dr. Austin Mircheff, a member of the Academic Senate Executive Board The MFA Executive Board reviewed the proposed changes and instructed President Kaslow to communicate its concerns to Dr. William G. Thalmann, President of the Academic Senate. President Kaslow distributed copies of his letter to Dr. Thalmann in which he emphasized that the proposed changes were substantive and should be considered by the full Senate. Dr. Mircheff indicated that discussions were on-going at the Senate Executive Board and that the proposals from the Vice-Provost may not be formal proposals from the Administration.

Dr. Mircheff reported briefly on the Academic Senate Retreat, at which three white papers were discussed.

Dr. Slucki asked whether anyone knew which grievance procedure is currently in force: the one from the 1987 Faculty Handbook or the procedure approved by the Senate last academic year. Apparently confusion has arisen regarding this issue in the handling of grievances involving School of Medicine faculty. Because the procedure for grievances is established at the level of the University, and not the School, consensus suggested that the Senators from the School of Medicine seek clarification of this issue at the Academic Senate.
 

7. Consideration of ongoing issues

• Launch of department-specific listservers. President Kaslow said these should be ready soon.
• CPSA and other clinical issues. There was little new information to report.
• Accreditation issues. Discussed earlier.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 PM.

Submitted by: Robert H. Stellwagen, Ph.D., Secretary; edited by Harvey Kaslow