GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL PROGRAMS

LISA GUBACINOVEMBER 1, 2011

UNDERSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENTS

WHY?

What is so im

portant a

bout training Graduate

Students and Postdoctoral Fellows?

What makes them worth the time and money?

ANSWER…

Research and Reputationit is central to the overall University mission

expenditures for 2009-10 totaled $1.14 Billion

excellence is a crucial element in educational rankings

creates collaborative and interdisciplinary initiatives

STILL – WHY?

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows are

• The reason some faculty choose UofM• The reason faculty continue to obtain

research funding• The reason some of our alumni give• Our next great generation that will

continue teaching, life-saving research and mentoring

PURPOSE

Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs (GAP) is the administrative home for •Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (PIBS)•Office of Postdoctoral Studies.•Interdisciplinary graduate programs

• Immunology, Cellular & Molecular Biology, Neuroscience and Cancer Biology (with Cancer Center)

•Postdoctoral Research Training Program •MTrain

PURPOSE CONT’D

Program in Biomedical Science•Operates as a confederation of very strong programs coming together for the purpose of recruiting, admissions, training and mentoring of graduate students prior to when a student selects a degree-granting program.

PURPOSE CONT’D

PIBS was established to:•eliminate redundant activities and costs•create an environment for students to sample more than one program or have ability to switch programs•eliminate overly-compartmentalized training and establish interdisciplinary concepts.•utilize strength of current individual departments

PURPOSE CONT’D

Outcomes:•Became the gateway to 14 Ph.D. programs offering students the freedom to choose the areas of research that interests them most.•Offers an active, research-rich environment with access to almost 500 top faculty and their labs from various departments•Supports a funding level of more than $330 million in NIH and other funding; Michigan ranks among the top 10 schools year after year• Passionate mentors that are well respected, well published researchers come to UofM to train and inspire the next generation•Diversity in all it’s forms is valued for the rich contribution it brings to our students, faculty and research

PURPOSE CONT’D

Office of Postdoctoral Studies:•Established in 2008 to coordinate activities in the medical school centered on the issues and concerns of postdoctoral research fellows.

•History of postdocs not receiving the institutional support and services provided to students, faculty or staff.

•Mission is to enhance the experience of postdoctoral fellows while in training and to recruit outstanding postdoctoral fellows to UMMS.

•Currently there are over 700 postdoc fellows at UMMS; 1,400 campus wide.

PURPOSE CONT’D

Postdoctoral Research Training Program (for House Officers) :•Initiated in 1986 to provide House Officers with a full-time, 10-week introduction to cell and molecular biology in both the classroom and lab. It is open to MDs throughout the Medical Center, and is a major component on many research training grants.•House Officers are introduced to problem solving exercises in cell and molecular biology led by a group of ‘top-tier’ faculty in basic and biomedical sciences.

PURPOSE CONT’D

MTrain•Provides a unique workspace for proposed and active training grants

•A repository to collect and manage information from the participating faculty and their trainees

•Ability to generate select, required tables for NIH training grant submissions

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Program in Biomedical SciencesRecruitingAdmissions and application processing First-year fundingCoordination of core institutional requirements (orientation, radiation and lab safety, and training in Responsible Conduct of Research)Mentoring & Guidance (e.g., Individual Development Plan – IDP)

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES CONT’D

Office of Postdoctoral Studies:Recruiting postdoc scholars to the UMMSMonthly orientation for all newly appointed postdoc fellowsSeminars, expert panels and symposia focused on career options and career planningSupport to the UM-Postdoctoral Association (PDA)Networking events for postdoc fellows across campusSupport the training efforts of UMMS faculty

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES CONT’D

MTrain:Repository for training grant materialData collection siteTool for producing NIH training grant tables for submission

STAKEHOLDERS

Program in Biomedical SciencesoStudentsoFacultyoPh.D. ProgramsoMedical School and the University of Michigan

STAKEHOLDERS CONT’D

Office of Postdoctoral Studies:oPostdoctoral FellowsoFacultyoMedical School and the University of Michigan

STAKEHOLDERS CONT’D

MTrain:oTraining grant directors and administratorsoMedical School and the University of Michigan

STAFFING TRENDS

BEFORE

1 Director

2 Associate Directors

4 Staff FTEs

Several temporary staff during peak recruitment and admissions

AFTER

1 Associate Dean1 Assistant Dean2 Directors Postdoctoral Studies Post-baccalaureate

Academic Enrichment•6 Staff FTEs (.5 funded by NIH grant)

CURRENT TACTICAL INITIATIVES

Graduate and Postdoctoral StudiesDeveloping business plan for new post-baccalaureate program For students that want to apply to Medical School, but lack the basic science courses required

CURRENT TACTICAL INITIATIVES CONT’DProgram in Biomedical SciencesMajor efforts are recruitment and admissionsoCurrent and future endeavors is to find a way to survey

results and create better efficiencies, training needs and capacities.

Stretch first-year support from 10 months to 12 – 14 months oSync better with training grants

Ultimate goal is to get students to candidacy oWorking on business plan to become a pre-candidacy

program

CURRENT TACTICAL INITIATIVES CONT’D

Office of Postdoctoral Studies

Expand pool of training grant-eligible applicants and underrepresented minorities

o Postdoc Preview weekendFirst year of three-year

experiment

Postdoc Preview weekend

First year of three-year experiment

Current Tactical Initiatives cont’d

CURRENT TACTICAL INITIATIVES CONT’DMtrain

• Concept is a great one, but we are not using it to its fullest advantage yet.

• Create process to remind mentors and trainees to update data on a yearly basis

• Usable data depends upon them for data input and updates

• Good system for graduate training grants, but not good for postdoc training grants

• Work to find a way to better utilize system for postdoc fellows

OPPORTUNIT

IES F

OR

COLLABORATI

ON &

SYNERGY

WHAT

CAN YO

U DO F

OR ME?

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION & SYNERGY

Program in Biomedical Sciences• Need for collaboration with tenure home

• Graduate students may be a new concept-training of staff may be needed

• Student financial commitments can become a source of contention

• Need for direct contacts for collaboration on issues and solutions.• Often the issues relate to students getting paid on

time

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION & SYNERGY CONT’D

Office of Postdoctoral Studies• Closer collaborations with departments

• Faculty member within each department to serve as a liaison

• Role would include research and career trajectory and health and well-being

• Do departments currently assign this role to a faculty member; if not, how can we help?

• International postdocs make up half (about 350 out the 700 at UMHS). • Underserved; can this be rectified with a faculty

liaison position?

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION & SYNERGY CONT’D

• Create a process to integrate the Individual Development Plan (IDP)

• Create process for it to be done during the yearly reappointment and salary increase process.

• Staff member within each department to serve as a liaison

• Do not currently have an easy way to identify newly hired postdocs

• Do not currently understand departmental processes

• Do not currently have a mechanism for problem solving

• Are postdocs receiving notice of varied funding opportunities

• Are postdocs applying for funding of their own?• If not, why not?• How successful are they?• We have no way to track this information

Excellence in Teaching & Service: Lev Prasov – Human Genetics

Award for Excellence in Research: J. Chad Brenner – CMB

John Prensner - MCP

ANNUAL AWARDS

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

(Org Charts/FTEs)

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Program in Biomedical ScienceIndicators are:

• Number of domestic applications/number of underrepresented minorities within applicant pool

• Quality of cohort (research experiences, GPA, letters of recommendation)

• Diversity of cohort (demographics and research interests)

• How widespread the geographic distribution (nationally)

• Ratio of offers made to acceptances Where did our students get other offers (what other schools did

they have to choose from)?

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Measures Performance:

We are successful when:

Our students reachcandidacy.

Being successful in PIBS means departmental and

Interdepartmentaltraining grants aresuccessful.

Data Reviewed:

Success rate in getting our students through the program (our mentoring, using IDPs, and attrition rate).

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Office of Postdoctoral Studies:Indicators are:

• The number of new postdocs at orientation – are we getting everyone? If not, why not?

• Level of participation in career development events

Measures performance by asking, ‘Did we enhance their training and guide them without directing them?’

Data reviewed on a regular basis is exit interview comments. Only data available and is it not reliable because most postdocs do not complete the survey.

THE END….