VCOM Faculty Handbook

Primary Responsibilities of all Faculty VCOM faculty subscribe to the highest standards of conduct. These standards include honesty, integrity, duty, and respect for others. All faculty assume personal and collective responsibility for maintaining these standards. See the Statement on Professional and Ethical Behavior and the AOA Code of Ethics that are expected of all faculty. When VCOM extends full-time faculty appointments, it is anticipated that faculty members will participate in the mission of VCOM. Faculty members are expected to support VCOM’s goals in their individual roles of teaching, research, scholarly activity, and service to the institution. Each faculty member is expected to: • advance VCOM’s Mission through the performance of education, research, scholarly activity, and service; • become and maintain literacy in the use of technology in order to provide all course materials in the most current delivery system; • follow national models and work with their Chair counterparts from each campus to develop curricular competencies that are current with national models and assures the VCOM curriculum remains current and competitive; • update all curriculum and materials annually, including all testing items; • become proficient in educational methods of delivery; • provide high quality educational materials including syllabi, educational objectives, and presentations and to provide valid assessments including the formation of test questions, exams, and any remediation materials annually; • develop a curriculum that follows the competencies expected of an osteopathic student nationally; • serve on committees that are important to the educational and research mission and daily functions of the College and as appointed by the Campus Dean; • contribute to scholarly activity through research and publication; • perform research and those with protected time for research by contract are expected to seek and bring in research support over the course of their contract and to produce scholarly activity for research outcomes and education; • serve as a faculty advisor to students; • serve as a research mentor to students; • interview student applicants; • attend all required VCOM meetings and events, including the Commencement and White Coat ceremonies; • attend and participate in all committees as assigned; • assist and advise all students experiencing difficulty within their course; and • serve as a role model for students and faculty in professional and ethical behaviors both on- and off-campus. Faculty expectations include the following: • Faculty have the freedom to interact freely with each other and with students on the academic matters of teaching and research. • Faculty are entitled to freedom in research and publication, as long as such publications are of a professional nature, do not falsify or provide misinformation, are the faculty member’s own work, are true, are of high integrity, and do not bring harm to the institution. • Faculty also carry a responsibility for academic honesty and must operate within the confines of the law in these endeavors. • Faculty are expected to be accurate and knowledgeable in their teaching, research and publications. Faculty are expected to incorporate original work; however, faculty may use material for which they have permission from VCOM or from another institution with permission of the original author, assuring credit is given

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