Description

Position Summary:

The Associate Dean, Academic Affairs – Medical Education is a strategic administrative leadership role for undergraduate medical education with a non-tenure track faculty appointment as an Open Rank Professor in one of the HCOM academic departments (Primary Care, Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Specialty Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, or Social Medicine). As a faculty leader, the Associate Dean contributes to the College’s missions of teaching, curriculum innovation, design, sequencing, delivery, assessment, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the non-clinical components of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) curriculum.

The Associate Dean of Medical Education serves as the College’s lead academic administrator for non-clinical curriculum strategy, educational effectiveness, learner assessment, program evaluation, and educational innovation. The position provides academic oversight of biomedical, osteopathic, social, behavioral, population health, ethics, professionalism, and health systems sciences and ensures that students develop the foundational knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for successful progression into clinical training.

As a co-steward of the unified four-year DO curriculum, the Associate Dean works in close partnership with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Clinical Education to ensure curricular coherence, vertical integration, comparability, quality, and continuous improvement across all four years, campuses, instructional modalities, and clinical training environments. The Associate Dean also collaborates closely with the Associate Dean for Quality and Accreditation to ensure that curriculum, assessment, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement activities align with accreditation requirements, institutional learning outcomes, and College and University priorities.

The Associate Dean provides academic leadership and decision-making direction while partnering with operational and administrative leaders responsible for scheduling, logistics, educational technology, and day-to-day curriculum implementation across campuses.

The Associate Dean has primary academic accountability for the non-clinical curriculum and contributes to program-level academic governance and integration across the entire four-year DO program. This position is responsible for promoting consistency, comparability, integration, and educational quality in:

• Foundational and non-clinical curriculum content across campuses and instructional modalities
• Alignment of program outcomes, course and session objectives, instructional methods, and assessment strategies
• Integration of biomedical, osteopathic, clinical, social, behavioral, population, and health systems sciences
• Academic standards, learner assessment, student performance, and progression
• Preparation of students for successful transition to clinical education
• Educational innovation and evidence-informed teaching and learning
• Curriculum evaluation and continuous quality improvement
• Alignment with the College’s mission, osteopathic philosophy, accreditation standards, and institutional priorities

Curriculum Leadership and Academic Oversight

• Provide executive academic leadership for the design, oversight, integration, sequencing, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the pre-clerkship curriculum and associated educational programs.
• Provide primary academic leadership for foundational biomedical, osteopathic, social, behavioral, population health, ethics, professionalism, and health systems sciences delivered during the pre-clerkship phase.
• Provide strategic oversight of the longitudinal DO curriculum in collaboration with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Clinical Education to ensure curricular coherence, vertical integration, quality, comparability, and innovation across all four years of the program.
• Lead curriculum planning, revision, implementation, evaluation, and improvement in alignment with the Heritage College Bylaws, institutional priorities, accreditation expectations, learner outcomes, and contemporary medical education practices.
• Collaborate with curriculum leaders, course directors, faculty, department chairs, and academic administrators to ensure effective integration and delivery of the educational program across campuses.
• Determine curricular and educational priorities based on institutional strategic goals, accreditation requirements, learner outcomes, national standards, and emerging educational practices.
• Provide academic direction and oversight to pre-clerkship curriculum leadership, including course directors, faculty leads, and curriculum liaisons, while collaborating with operational teams responsible for curriculum support and delivery.
• Ensure that the educational program prepares students for academic progression, successful transition to clinical education, program completion, licensure examinations, graduate medical education, and subsequent professional practice.

Assessment, Student Performance, and Academic Progression

• Provide leadership for the development, implementation, validation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of learner assessment strategies across the pre-clerkship curriculum.
• Oversee written examinations, performance-based assessments, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), and other assessment modalities designed to evaluate student achievement of curricular and program outcomes.
• Apply and promote sound psychometric principles to assessment development, analysis, standard setting, score interpretation, reliability, validity, and fairness.
• Oversee analysis and interpretation of learner assessment data, academic performance indicators, licensure examination performance, and national benchmarking data to identify opportunities for curricular and academic improvement.
• Collaborate with Student Affairs, Clinical Education, and other institutional leaders regarding academic standing, student progression, remediation, promotion, board examination readiness, and graduation requirements.
• Ensure assessment strategies appropriately measure the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and competencies required for progression through the DO program.

Curriculum Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement

• Lead systematic evaluation of the curriculum using learner outcomes, assessment results, program evaluation findings, student feedback, faculty input, accreditation findings, and national benchmarking data.
• Use structured assessment and continuous quality improvement frameworks to evaluate educational effectiveness and guide curricular improvement.
• Lead structured CQI processes that use assessment and program data to inform curricular revision, educational program development, and institutional performance improvement.
• Oversee curriculum mapping and related analytics to ensure alignment among program outcomes, learning objectives, instructional methods, assessments, degree requirements, and accreditation standards.
• Oversee collection, analysis, and reporting of curricular data through appropriate curriculum mapping and national reporting systems, including the AAMC Curriculum Inventory or comparable systems.
• Evaluate the impact of curricular innovations and major educational initiatives through systematic program evaluation and outcomes analysis.

Educational Strategy, Innovation, and Change Management

• Lead strategic educational initiatives designed to advance academic excellence, student learning, curricular effectiveness, and educational innovation.
• Promote evidence-informed teaching practices, contemporary instructional methodologies, appropriate educational technologies, and innovative approaches to medical education.
• Lead major curricular change initiatives, including curriculum reform, new educational programs, tracks, electives, instructional models, and educational technology adoption.
• Provide leadership for the implementation and evaluation of significant curricular changes across campuses.
• Identify emerging trends and best practices in undergraduate medical education and assess their potential application within the Heritage College.

Academic Governance and Curriculum Administration

• Provide leadership for curriculum governance processes related to course approvals, curricular revisions, academic policies, assessment, progression, promotion, and degree requirements.
• Engage regularly with the College Curriculum Committee and other faculty governance structures responsible for curriculum and academic affairs.
• Present proposed changes to pre-clerkship and non-clinical curriculum content, structure, sequencing, instructional methods, and assessment strategies for appropriate governance review.
• Provide curriculum mapping analyses, learner outcomes data, assessment findings, and CQI results to support evidence-informed governance decisions.
• Collaborate with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Clinical Education on curricular proposals requiring College and University review and approval.
• Partner with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Clinical Education on University Curriculum Council processes necessary to maintain the DO program, including catalog requirements, DARS, course listings, and related curricular approvals.
• Collaborate on development and maintenance of the annual academic and enrollment calendar.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of curricular information contained in University catalogs, academic records, curriculum management systems, and related institutional documents.

Accreditation and Educational Quality

• Collaborate with the Associate Dean for Quality and Accreditation to ensure that curricular design, delivery, assessment, evaluation, and improvement activities meet or exceed applicable accreditation and institutional standards.
• Support ongoing compliance with Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA), Higher Learning Commission (HLC), University Curriculum Committee, and other applicable standards and requirements.
• Contribute to accreditation self-studies, reports, site visits, monitoring activities, and required curricular documentation.
• Use accreditation findings, educational outcomes, assessment data, and program evaluation results to inform curriculum refinement and strategic academic decision-making.
• Ensure appropriate evidence is maintained to demonstrate curricular integration, educational effectiveness, comparability, student achievement, and continuous quality improvement across instructional locations.

Faculty Development and Academic Leadership

• Provide supervision, academic oversight, mentoring, and direction to designated pre-clerkship curriculum leaders, including course directors, faculty leads, and curriculum liaisons.
• Support and mentor faculty engaged in curriculum design, instructional delivery, learner assessment, program evaluation, and educational innovation.
• Promote faculty development in instructional design, teaching effectiveness, assessment methodology, educational technology, and evidence-informed medical education practices.
• Foster a culture of academic excellence, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement among curriculum leaders and faculty.
• Support strategies for the recruitment, development, engagement, and retention of faculty necessary to deliver a high-quality medical education program.

Institutional Leadership and Collaboration

• Serve as a member of the College’s academic leadership structure and provide strategic advice to the Senior Dean and Chief Academic Officer regarding medical education, curriculum, student academic performance, and educational quality.
• Serve in an advisory or leadership capacity on key institutional committees, including the College Curriculum Committee, Dean’s Council, Executive
• Committee, and other committees as assigned.
• Collaborate closely with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Clinical Education as co-leaders responsible for curricular integration and academic quality across the four-year DO program.
• Partner with the Associate Dean for Quality and Accreditation on assessment, program evaluation, accreditation, outcomes analysis, and continuous quality improvement.
• Collaborate with Student Affairs and Admissions to strengthen cross-functional processes related to student transition, academic progress, board examinations, registration, progression, and graduation requirements.
• Partner with department chairs, faculty leaders, campus leadership, and institutional stakeholders to align educational initiatives with College priorities.
• Promote effective communication and collaboration across campuses to ensure a consistent, integrated, and high-quality student learning experience.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Senior Dean and Chief Academic Officer.

Faculty Responsibilities

• Maintain an active faculty appointment and contribute to the teaching mission of the College through clinical skills instruction, learner assessment, curriculum development, and other educational activities.
• Participate in educational scholarship, clinical education innovation, and dissemination of best practices in medical education.
• Serve as a faculty leader in academic governance, curriculum oversight, and assessment decision-making.
• Mentor faculty, clerkship directors, and clinical preceptors and support faculty development related to teaching, assessment, feedback, and competency-based education.
• Contribute to institutional service and committee activities consistent with faculty expectations and responsibilities.
• Contribute a minimum of 5% effort to medical school teaching activities, including curriculum design and enhancement, delivery of instructional content, facilitation of active learning sessions, provision of backup teaching support when faculty coverage is needed, and development, review, and validation of assessment tools, including written examination questions and other evaluative instruments.

College Curriculum Committee (CCC)

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Medical Education engages regularly with the College Curriculum Committee (CCC) as part of the College’s shared academic governance structure. Typical interactions include:

• Presenting proposed changes to foundational and non-clinical curriculum content, structure, sequencing, and assessment methods for CCC review and recommendation.
• Providing curriculum mapping analyses, learner outcomes data, and continuous quality improvement findings to inform CCC deliberations and decision-making.
• Collaborating with CCC leadership and members to address accreditation-related requirements, curricular revisions, and alignment with institutional and national standards.
• Partnering with the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs – Clinical Education on curricular proposals requiring CCC consideration and subsequent University Curriculum Council (UCC) approval, including catalog updates, degree audit requirements, and course listing changes.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• M.D., D.O., Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree in a related field, 15 or more years of related professional experience, and 9 or more years of supervisory experience, or equivalent education and experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctoral degree (Ed.D., Ph.D., or equivalent) in education, assessment, curriculum, medical education, or a closely related field; or a D.O. or M.D. degree with at least ten years of significant medical education leadership experience, including a demonstrated record of curriculum oversight, educational innovation, implementation, assessment, and outcomes improvement.
• 5 years of progressively responsible experience in education, including significant experience in curriculum leadership, faculty collaboration, learner assessment, program evaluation, and outcomes-informed improvement.
• Expertise in curriculum design, learner assessment, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement in medical and/or health professions education.
• Comprehensive knowledge of undergraduate medical education and contemporary approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment is preferred, but not required
• Knowledge of COCA accreditation standards and other regulatory and institutional requirements relevant to curriculum and academic affairs.
• Knowledge of assessment methodology and psychometric principles, including item analysis, standard setting, reliability, validity, and score interpretation.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze educational outcomes and translate data into meaningful curricular and programmatic improvements.
• Ability to lead complex curricular initiatives and organizational change across multiple campuses and stakeholder groups.
• Strong leadership, communication, collaboration, facilitation, and change-management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with faculty governance structures, academic leaders, faculty, staff, and institutional partners.
• Commitment to osteopathic medical education, academic excellence, educational innovation, student success, and continuous improvement.