Description

The Associate Dean, Academic Affairs – Clinical Education is an administrative leadership role with a non-tenure track faculty appointment as an Open Rank Professor in one of the HCOM clinical departments (Primary Care, Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, or Specialty Medicine). As a faculty leader, the Associate Dean contributes to the College’s missions of teaching, clinical education, educational scholarship, faculty development, and academic governance while providing strategic leadership for clinical education across the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine curriculum. This role provides academic leadership for the clinical components of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine curriculum, including pre-clerkship clinical skills education, clerkships, electives, and other experiential learning activities. The Associate Dean is responsible for the design, integration, delivery, assessment, and continuous improvement of clinical education and serves as a principal faculty authority for clinical competency development, learner assessment, educational quality, and academic standards.

The Associate Dean exercises academic judgment regarding clinical curriculum content, clinical learning experiences, competency expectations, learner assessment, student progression, and readiness for graduate medical education. The position actively participates in teaching, faculty development, educational scholarship, and shared governance, ensuring that clinical education remains aligned with institutional priorities, osteopathic principles, and accreditation standards. Because the position is responsible for core academic functions, including clinical curriculum design, learner assessment, competency evaluation, teaching, faculty development, educational scholarship, and academic governance, a faculty appointment is essential to provide appropriate academic authority, peer credibility, and alignment with accreditation expectations. This position works in close collaboration with the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs – Medical Education and the Associate Dean for Health System Operations to ensure integration of foundational and clinical education across the four-year curriculum and to maintain compliance with Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) standards.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, oversight, assessment, and continuous improvement of the clinical curriculum, including clinical skills education, clerkships, electives, and clinical competency assessment
• Ensure consistency, quality, and of clinical teaching, learning experiences, and competency assessment across sites
• Oversee student clinical performance, progression, and readiness for residency
• Partner with operations to ensure adequate, high-quality clinical training placements
• Support curriculum integration across phases and alignment with foundational education
• Contribute to accreditation, governance, and policy (assessment, grading, progression)
• Use outcomes and performance data to drive quality improvement and innovation
• Collaborate with clerkship and course directors, physician faculty, Associate Deans, governance committees, institutional partners, and program directors to support high-quality clinical and consistent academic standards across campuses and training sites
• Provide leadership for clinical curriculum leadership and clinical education programs, including Clinical Skills and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Discipline Directors, Clinical Training and Assessment Center (CTAC), and Office of Rural and Underserved Program (ORUP) and Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) programs

College Curriculum Committee

• Maintain regular engagement with the College Curriculum Committee (CCC) to support shared governance and academic oversight of clinical education and continuous quality improvement in clinical education.
• Responsibilities include:
• Present proposed changes to clinical curriculum components, including pre-clerkship clinical skills, clerkships, electives, and clinical assessment frameworks, for CCC review and recommendation
• Provide clinical education outcomes data, site comparability analyses, and continuous quality improvement findings to support decision-making
• Collaborate with CCC leadership and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Medical Education on proposals requiring CCC and University Curriculum
• Council (UCC) review and approval, including clerkship and elective catalog language and degree audit requirements
• Support alignment among clinical education standards, institutional academic policies, and accreditation expectations

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

Requirements

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

• Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree from an accredited institution
  • M.D. degree with substantial experience in osteopathic medical education and clinical training will be considered
• Eligibility for or possess an active medical license
• Experience in undergraduate medical education, including clinical and skills-based teaching and progressively responsible academic leadership
• Expertise in undergraduate medical education and clinical instruction
• Knowledge of COCA accreditation standards relevant to clinical education
• Ability to assess learner performance, clinical competency development and clinical education outcomes
• Ability to collaborate across multiple campuses, health systems, and clinical training sites
• Strong leadership, communication, organizational and relationship-management skills