FAQs

The department offers several opportunities to get a comprehensive overview for what you need to have to start preparing a teaching portfolio. These opportunities include the faculty development course, which is a 30 hour course offered over 4 months. It includes a session about how to prepare a teaching portfolio. Another option is the faculty development lectures series for the School of Medicine, which annually includes one lecture about this topic. There is also an annual day-long faculty development seminar in the School of Medicine called “how to be a better teacher”, which offers a workshop about this topic. Moreover, on the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences website, there is a link for materials on preparing a Teaching Portfolio found here. You may need to contact Dr Kaslow to get more information about these opportunities.

At this point it is very important to meet with your mentors and Dr Kaslow to help you putting your thoughts together and have a plan for writing up your teaching portfolio. You will need more than one person to review your drafts and give you feedback to improve. They will also give helpful tips to assist you in planning for your promotion (e.g. if you present locally, they may advise you to get more involved at the national level or get involved in educational committees either locally or nationally, etc.)

The SOM guidelines indicate that a Teaching Portfolio can be a maximum of 50 pages. You can have a maximum of 6 signed recommendation letters from a combination of prior students, mentees, and colleagues who can attest to your teaching/supervisory expertise. You may not include trainees over whom you have evaluative responsibilities.

The following information can be included in a Teaching Portfolio: supervisions, lectures, conferences and seminars, bedside teaching, invited presentations, board examinations, continuing education courses, theses or dissertation committees, course or program direction and organization (including direction of training programs), education committee memberships. Materials to include are letters of evaluation, teaching/supervision ratings, education activities in professional organizations, teaching or education awards, letters from internal and external evaluators, prepared or edited teaching materials, trainees supervised, completed course and self-instructional activities.

Although there can be an overlap between content, the Teaching Portfolio should reflect participation with training programs, directing a course, or judging of science fairs. The Service Portfolio should focus more on service (i.e., service leadership programs). Please view the department teaching portfolio template here. The template has the required elements for preparing your teaching portfolio.

Your Teaching Portfolio should start now and be updated every time you do anything that falls in the category of teaching. It is essential to keep accurate records and collect letters of teaching efforts completed.

Teaching does not have to look different for each track, but it may as there are different teaching opportunities for faculty engaged in clinical work versus research. Teaching may include supervision, lectures, conferences and seminars, beside teaching, invited presentations, continuing education courses, theses or dissertation committees, course or program direction and organization, education committee memberships, etc. On the Clinical and MEST tracks, teaching is more likely to include supervision and bedside teaching and seminars, whereas on the Research and Tenure tracks it more likely includes classroom teaching and theses and dissertation committee service. Individuals often have a combination based on their areas of emphasis.

Teaching at the Professor level requires significant leadership roles – e.g., Director of a Residency or Fellowship Program, national and international teaching, writing seminal papers on teaching for major journals, major teaching awards, and significant mentorship roles. Teaching for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor requires participation in the aforementioned activities, but not necessarily key leadership roles. It also differs by quantity of an activity.