At the beginning of the program, the Scholars will complete an IDP to explicitly outline their areas of development during their time as a trainee. The IDPs include statements about their long-term career goals, short-term goals, strengths and weaknesses, specific action steps to attain goals, identified opportunities for career development, funding and publishing opportunities and feedback from their mentors. These plans will be used as a mechanism to communicate goals with mentors as well as monitor and adapt their training to meet individualized career benchmarks. On an annual basis, the IDPs will be signed by mentors and reviewed by the Executive Committee.
- Surveys of Program Effectiveness from the view of the Scholar will be conducted annually by the Program Director’s (PD) office. The survey will include questions about the quality and utility of the didactic coursework. Scholar satisfaction with the performance of their mentors will be assessed on a numeric scale, and qualitative data collected in free text regarding quality of mentoring.
- Program Director’s Review Meetings will be conducted twice yearly with Scholars. This face-to-face interview will allow assessment of scholars’ satisfaction with the Program. The PD will summarize points of discussion in a letter to be included in each Scholar’s file, and with the Executive Committee.
- Scholar Progress Reports will be submitted annually via an available electronic database management tracking system. These reports gather information regarding publications, abstracts, presentations, overall progress in a project, and specifics of didactic training. Current BIRCWH Scholars should click here to complete their progress report.
- Mentor’s Assessments will be gathered annually, at the same time as the trainee progress reports. These are qualitative assessments of the performance of the Scholar’s performance, potential, skills, and any problems that need to be addressed.
- Annual Retreat. An annual gathering of trainees and mentors will occur in an off-campus location. A minimum of one half-day will be devoted to program evaluation by trainees, with input from the RAB. Issues or needed alterations of didactic work or other program educational structure will be discussed.
- Emory BIRCWH Program Statistics will be tracked by the Program office and supervised by Dr. Comeau, including baseline data, recruitment and retention, course performance, publications, grants submitted, grants awarded, presentations at scientific meetings, and other metrics that are shared with the Executive Committee.