Professors were exhorted, remembered and awarded at the spring 2005 meeting of the faculties of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing May 10.
The meeting’s primary purpose was to honor faculty achievements, explained Dr. Sandy Williams, dean of the School of Medicine, adding it was also an opportunity to keep them informed about future plans.
Williams began by recounting the previous year’s successes, especially noting the new hires. Still, he added that the future will bring new problems for “Duke Medicine,” including a general scarcity of National Institute of Health funding.
“We face some challenges going forward—no question about it,” Williams said. “I’ve never felt more confident of being on a winning team than I am today.”
Strongly urging all professors to become active in the current strategic planning process, Williams expressed his hopes to include a broader spectrum of Duke’s medical community in the planning as this would be one of Duke Medicine’s great periods of development.
“This plan will generate excitement,” Williams said. He described the strategy as a “living document” with “broad ownership,” creating a “Medical Center of the Future.”
This summer, administrators will prepare the first draft of the plan, and a cycle of validation by town meetings and external consultants will follow. By the fall, he said, the strategy for the next ten years should be ready to present to the Board of Trustees. He cautioned, though, that a successful implementation is also vital.
“A plan is just a plan. It’s just words,” Williams said.
Dr. Catherine Gilliss, vice chancellor for nursing affairs and dean of the School of Nursing, had plenty of achievements to report as well. In the past year, the school has received approval for both a new doctoral program and a new building, both of which will be ready by fall 2006.
Plans for further improvement include expanding interdisciplinary activities with the School of Medicine and adding high-level administrative staff to supplement the 38-member faculty. Gilliss also laid out a possible second phase of construction for the new building, which would require additional funding.
Sidney Simon, professor of neurobiology and chair of the Basic Sciences Faculty Steering Committee, presented several faculty complaints that a survey had revealed.
Basic sciences professors want core facilities not to be affiliated with specific labs and increased graduate student funding, Simon said. Although he noted improvements in some areas, he was still dissatisfied with the development office, departmental budgets and what he described as too few chairships among basic sciences faculty.
“Many of us have accomplished as much as people in the Arts and Sciences who have named chairs, but we don’t have named chairs,” Simon said.
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