School of Medicine Key Educational Skills Workshop
Making Your Committee Service Work for You

Principal Faculty:

Susan Masters, Ph.D.
Professor & Academy Chair in Pharmacology Education
Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology

Kimberly Topp, P.T., Ph.D.
Sexton Sutherland Endowed Chair in Human Anatomy
Professor and Chair
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science

How can we make the time that we spend in committee work maximally productive and even enjoyable? Perhaps by approaching them with a new eye toward understanding the stages that teams naturally go through over time, and by identifying the characteristics of effectively functioning teams and strategies for helping committees develop these characteristics. This workshop will explore these issues and offer practical tips for committee members and committee chairs.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe benefits and costs of committee work
• Generate a set of questions to ask before agreeing to a new committee
• List 4-5 hallmarks of a well-run committee and 4-5 actions that are likely to sabotage a committee meeting
• Outline the responsibilities of a committee member and strategies for making yourself heard
• Describe some best practices for chairing a committee