Application

Students will need to submit a formal application to be considered for acceptance into a Scholarly Concentration. Applications will be Concentration specific and should elicit student interest in the particular field and ability to engage in independent scholarly pursuits.

• Students must possess an academic performance profile that demonstrates no probationary status and participation will be approved by the Associate/Assistant preclerkship and clinical education Deans
• Applications will be approved by the Area Directors.

Participation

To participate in the Scholarly Concentrations program, students will select a mentor and develop their individualized research proposal, both of which will be approved by the Area Director. Initial proposal should include:

• Mentor(s) Students must identify a faculty mentor. Students will be able to reach out to the SC Director/Co-Director, Area Directors (or find them on the OMSR website) to find a list of faculty interested in mentoring students. Students can also bring in outside faculty or mentors (pending Area Director Approval)
  •  Some SC's may not lend themselves to a traditional mentee/mentor relationship (e.g. public policy), so each SC will also be able to define what this relationship looks like
• Individualized Research Plan/Project Proposal
  • Each project proposal must outline the student's plan for completing a Scholarly Concentration and describe outcomes they hope to achieve and methods for completing those outcomes.
  • Project Timeline Each student should agree with the proposed project timeline with specific checkpoints for their projects
    • Timelines must be in 12, 24, or 36 month lengths
    • Checkpoints should be every 3 months (for 1 year projects) or 6 months (2-3 year projects). These checkpoints should include a meeting between the student and mentor and result in an project update to be submitted to the Area Director
  • Academic Product Each student will plan to create an academic product and this should be defined in the project proposal. All students chosen to participate in the Scholarly Concentrations program are expected to present their work both in a poster format (during the research day) and oral presentation (during the annual Scholarly Concentrations event). In addition, students are encouraged to develop the following products: external poster/oral presentations, white papers, written theses, policy submission, and/or publication. The latter is up to the discretion of each Project Mentor.
• All final academic products must be approved by the respective Area Director. Results of final academic product submission can be: accept with no changes, accept with changes, or suggestion for resubmission.

Program Timeline

• Students can opt for a longitudinal or intensive Pathway experience.
  • Longitudinal: Starting in M1-M3, lasting for at least one year (suggested 12, 24, or 36 months). Depending upon the total duration of the project, students would be expected to spend between 2 and 10 hours per week on average on their Concentration.
  • Intensive: Students can opt for an intensive experience during their 4^th academic year. This requires a total length of two months, with one month elective period where they are expected to spend ~40 hours/week on their Concentration.
  • Students are able to change the duration and timeline of their Scholarly Concentration, pending approval from their Project Mentor and the respective Area Director.
• Timelines should include project updates every 3-6 months and updates should be submitted to the Project Mentor for review.

Project Timelines

• Initiation of project
  • First phase of projects should focus on scholarly review of existing literature, development of individualized project proposals, and submission of IRB (if collecting data).
• Execution of project
  • Second phase of the project should focus on reaching individualized project goals and directed learning in selected concentration.
• Finalization of project
  • During the last phase of the proposed timeline, students will complete their academic product described in a section above.
  • Students are encouraged to submit their work for presentation at regional and national/international conferences, and highly encouraged to publish their work in peer reviewed journals (if applicable).

Approval of Scholarly Concentrations Completion

• To complete a Scholarly Concentration, students will submit a final evaluation packet, which includes:
  • a description of how they achieved their initial objectives and their outcomes
  • final academic product
  • a reflection on SC's and how it relates to future career endeavors
• The student's Project Mentor will approve the evaluation packet
• The Project Mentor will make a recommendation to the Area Director for the student to receive SC credit.
• All final reports will be submitted by the Area Directors to the Director and Co-Director of the Scholarly Concentrations Program
• The Director and Co-Director of the Scholarly Concentrations Program can accept the recommendations from the Area Directors or seek further revisions of the academic product.

Recognition

• Student's completion of a Scholarly Concentration will be noted in their MSPE (Dean's letter for residency)
• Letters of Recommendation
• Based on the objective evaluations of student presentations, best presentations will be chosen for awards and certificates
• Award ceremony/banquet/gala to honor students who have completed a Scholarly Concentration and recognition of students and faculty mentors who have excelled in their respected concentration.