November 1, 2011
Volume 1, No. 11
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Vintage Alumni will vividly recall the weekly “Forum” classes. Dr. Arlinghaus held these as a way to present topics that weren’t
covered in other classes (remember the Flexner Report? That was a Forum topic) and as a means to present practitioners, such
as hospital CEO’s, managers, and others who represented healthcare careers. The cavalcade of guest speakers was impressive.
Today’s version of the weekly Forum is the Professional Development class, or “PD” as it’s affectionately called. Our first and
second-year students take four semesters of PD as one-credit hour classes. I teach this class and credit past chair Dr. Ida
Schick for developing the framework for the progressive, skills focus approach. I thought you’d be interested in what our PD
classes are covering during 2011-2012:
Prof Development 601 –
Fall Semester for 1st
Year Students
Basics of Executive Writing and Presentations (cover
letters, resumes, agendas and minutes, PowerPoint,
networking, branding, making presentations, conflict
resolution)
Guest Presenters: Several XU Faculty from
the Williams College of Business, from
Communication Arts and from HSA; also
several outside practitioners/consultants
Prof Development 602 –
Spring Semester for 1st
Year Students
Introduction to the Residency and Interviewing Skills;
Learning about Healthcare Career Options (CEO, COO,
CMO, Rural Health, Health Agency, Marketing & PR);
What Healthcare Executives Need to Know About
Nursing, Social Work, OT, Counseling, RT; Project
Management; Change Management
Guest Presenters: Several XU Faculty from
Nursing, OT, Rad Tech, Counseling, Social
Work; area executives, including alumni
Mark Hannahan ’79, Paul Hiltz ’83, Sue
Sherman ’90, Ted Wabler ’07, and Mike
Hibbard ’09,
Prof Development 603 –
Fall Semester for 2nd
Year Students
Strategic Planning, Facility Planning and Design;
Hearing from Current Residents and Current
Preceptors; Physician Relationships, Fund Raising,
Conflict Resolution; Residency Discussion
Guest Presenters: Design and building
experts; panels of current administrative
residents and current preceptors; several
practitioners and consultants, including
alumni Will Groneman ’78, Ted Wabler
’07, Sarah Sullivan ’08, Joni McElroy
’09, Jason Asic ’10, Bill Konecny ’10,
Jackie Lucas ’10 and Kelly Mikulecky
’10.
Prof Development 604 –
Spring Semester for 2nd
Year Students
Operational Challenges in Healthcare Delivery (trends,
reimbursement, LTC, physicians, technology,
governance, faith-based, HR); Leadership;
Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Residency Guidelines
Guest Presenters: Several area executives
and consultants, including alumni Dave
Dornheggen ’73, Will Groneman ’78,
Doug French ’79, Bob Clemente ’80,
Dr. Hugh Hawkins ’03, and Emily Seitz
Pawlak ‘12.
I teach these Professional Development classes and incorporate a couple of added attractions weekly. First, in the fall classes we
have the CURRENCY segment in which students work in pairs on a weekly basis to briefly tell the “who/what/when/where/why”
summary about a recent healthcare article not used in another class and finish with “how” this is relevant to us as healthcare
executives. For the spring classes we will switch to the RELEVANCY segment in which students also work in pairs on a weekly
basis to give a 1-2 minute recap about how the speaker’s presentation can help us become better healthcare executives. Another
brief aspect of these weekly PD classes is the 212º reflection which I’ll highlight in an upcoming HERALD.