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Michigan Professor Receives Educational Innovation Award

Orthodontic Faculty Development Fellowship Award

Dr. Scott Conley

Dr. Scott Conley is working to connect researchers and students around the country.

Grant Type: 2012 Education Innovation Award

Title: "Educational Innovation in Orthodontics: Novel Multicenter Faculty Career Enrichments in Orthodontics (FACEs in Orthodontics) Consortium"

Principal Investigator Bio: Dr. R. Scott Conley is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. He received his dental degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his orthodontic degree from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He is a past recipient of the Robert M. Ricketts AAOF Faculty Development Award, the 2005 and 2007 Edward H. Angle Research Awards and the 2007 CDABO Case Report of the Year Award. He is also a member of multiple professional societies including the Edward H. Angle Society and American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.

Brief Description of the Project: Our team will organize and implement a 15-month pilot 15 FACEs in Orthodontics program whose tentative proposed framework includes (a) developing collaborative curricula to provide core and customized offerings in teaching and research methodologies and craniofacial anomalies to faculty at different levels of seniority within clinical and tenure track paths; (b) catalog and make available pre-existing resources for faculty developed by other organizations to enable individuals to select, utilize or participate in such activities; and (c) foster career development by creating online and digital media on academic careers, and by facilitating networking with senior mentors.

To successfully accomplish this task, we will undertake appropriate planning and focus group meetings of all investigators and an external program advisory board of experts to: (a) refine preliminary programs, activities and outcomes outlined in Aim 2; (b) survey stakeholders on optimal delivery of activities and desired outcomes; and (c) utilize these findings to finalize, plan and deliver optimal enrichment experiences to interested faculty modified appropriately from those proposed below.

Finally, following the inaugural FACEs in Orthodontics program, we will receive input from participants (faculty, facilitators, mentees and their chairs) through appropriate survey tools on the outcomes, strengths and weaknesses of the program. We will then utilize this information to refine and enhance the program for subsequent year(s) and future grant funding applications.

How Orthodontic Education Will Benefit: We expect that the FACEs in Orthodontics Consortium could result in a long-lasting and effective mechanism to improve the quality of faculty instruction and research that would enhance the education of future orthodontists. Other key advantages of the programs and approaches to be used include:

  • Efficient and cost-effective delivery of courses and workshops to a critical mass of junior and mid-career faculty utilizing a small number of workshops that are supplemented by webinars, web conferences and digital materials. The pooling of intellectual resources and combining of efforts will result in cost-efficient mentorship of the participants.
  • Because each department and investigator brings different strengths and diversity to the consortium and programs, it is possible that the outcome may be greater than the sum of the parts. Investigators or mentors from other programs that choose to join this effort will further enhance this effect and outcome.
  • Over the long term, the programs offered will likely create a multiplier effect by developing mentors and successful academics, who in turn can nurture a larger pool of individuals either through this mechanism or within their respective institutions.
  • The incorporation of core foundational principles, customized instruction and reinforcements through follow up will help cater to a broad spectrum of individuals and ensure continued development and individualization of offerings for seniority and track as well as for the individual.

Why the Foundation is Important: The AAOF Foundation will provide a key portion of the financial resources necessary to initiate the FACEs in Orthodontics program. By attracting junior and mid-career faculty participants, the costs of the program will be divided amongst a relatively large number of individuals as opposed to each institution attempting to provide this faculty development on a one-on-one basis to very few faculty within each individual orthodontic program.

How Foundation Funding Might Help Advance Career/Specialty and How it has Already Helped (if Past Recipient): As a past recipient of an AAOF Faculty Development Award, I was able to undertake some of the FACEs in Orthodontics program development activities at my own institution, which provided me with a foundation to be more successful in my personal academic career. The FACEs program will make key development activities available to a broad group of junior and mid-career faculty enhancing their skills and the orthodontic education they provide. The ultimate result will be attracting more people to education and the continued improvement of orthodontic education.