Graduate Faculty Development Program Trainings
The Graduate Division Dean's office, in collaboration with Student Academic Affairs, will be providing the following trainings for faculty of the basic science PhD programs. For more information about faculty training requirements, see the Graduate Program Policies.
The Graduate Faculty Development Program trainings listed below will fulfill those requirements while also providing meaningful and practical guidance to faculty in their roles as mentors, supervisors and advisors to their trainees.
Faculty Participation Tracker
For the sake of transparency and accountability, faculty participation in our training is tracked and made available in our Faculty Participation Tracker. Graduate program directors and administrators use this data to enforce their program-specific policies regarding faculty training. Graduate students and Postdocs are also able to view this data. If you have any questions about our participation tracker, please reach out to Isaac Strong.
Non-GFDP Training Opportunities
We recognize that faculty often participate in trainings outside of the Graduate Faculty Developement Program (GDFP). Scroll to the bottom of this page to see our suggestions. Faculty who do so are encouraged to fill out our Non-GFDP Training Participation Form to provide us details about these outside trainings.
Non-GFDP Training Participation Form
**Please note: it is up to the graduate program directors if non-GFDP trainings will count toward your requirements. The Graduate Division Dean's office will use the information you provide to advise program directors if outside trainings align with the goals of the GFDP.**
UCSF is committed to making its facilities, activities and events accessible. To request accommodations for any of the events below, please contact Isaac Strong ([email protected] | 415.502.1803) as soon as possible, at least 24 hours before the event.
List of Trainings
Foundations in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Graduate Division DEI Primer (Central Resource)
What do we mean when we talk about diversity? How do the concepts of equity and inclusion factor into diversity? You may be passionate about being an active change-maker to address issues of Anti-Blackness and other forms of oppression at UCSF, but you might not know where to start and how to proceed. Made specifically by and for the Graduate Division, this primer to meant set some groundwork that will help you reframe your understanding of the diversity work that is needed locally and nationally. Our goal in creating this living document is to provide a shared language, allowing us to engage in dialogue and more effectively work together to address the unique needs of the Graduate Division community. This primer was adapted from the Differences Matter Initiative’s Antiracism and Race Literacy: A Primer and Toolkit for Medical Educators.
Everyone has an active role to play in the diversity work that is needed. This diversity work starts with each of us making changes in the spaces where we hold power. Together, our work in our smaller circles will contribute to the larger movement.
Objectives
The Graduate Division DEI Primer is meant to:
- establish groundwork that is essential to empower research faculty to be active, committed participants in diversity work within the Graduate Division,
- accompany and support the Faculty Guide: Talking about Race and Inequity in Science and support research faculty engaging in important conversations,
- provide clarity on how equity and inclusion are integral components to diversity, and
- serve as a living glossary of important terms and key frameworks, which faculty can refer back to as needed.
DEI Champion Training
DEI Chamption Training
Facilitators: Various trained School of Medicine faculty members
Description: Most of us are not trained in how to handle bias and discrimination in the learning environment. When bias occurs, we don’t feel comfortable addressing it. Trainees have complained that these issues are not being addressed appropriately at UCSF, and that it negatively impacts their training.
In order to address bias and discrimination when and where it happens, and to increase awareness and skills for faculty and staff who work with our trainees, the Differences Matter initiative at UCSF has developed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training. This training, offered through the Center for Faculty Educators in the School of Medicine, is an excellent opportunity to learn the important foundational terms, concepts, and frameworks underlying the best practices we must incorporate into our everyday actions as educators to ensure the success and well-being of our trainees, to support anti-racism throughout the University, and to specifically address anti-Black racism.
Faculty and staff from all UCSF affiliated schools, programs, and units who work with trainees are eligible to participate.
Importantly, recent adaptations to the DEI Champion Training curricula include making case studies more role-neutral so that they can be applied to most settings at UCSF. Even before the content adaptations, Graduate Division faculty who participated in the DEI Champion Training found it to be impactful and applicable to their unique training situations. Additionally, the Graduate Division Dean's office has been collaborating with the Differences Matter initiative to supply case studies reflecting our training environments and lab/research group dynamics so that, in the future, Training sessions can include a wider range of relevant scenarios.
DEI Champion Training counts as part of the Graduate Faculty Development program, and the Graduate Division Dean's office highly recommends that faculty and staff participate. We are confident that if you go into this training with an open mind, you will be able to apply what you learn to your day-to-day interactions with trainees.
Registration Information:
The DEI Champion training has been revamped to meet our need to physically distance, but still personally connect. The revamped training will still bring you the same content as the in-person training, via an online virtual format divided in 3 parts. The parts MUST be completed in the following order:
- On your own, online, watching a few videos, short pre-work and a brief reflection. Time: 30-40 minutes.
- Session 1 via Zoom with a group of faculty and staff from cross campus. Time: 3 hours.
- Session 2 via Zoom with a group of faculty and staff from cross campus. Time: 3 hours.
Sessions 1 and 2 are offered separately. You can sign-up for any day you are available, but it must be in consecutive order. Please commit to a time for both parts 1 and 2.
**If you plan to attend and wish to have your participation recorded through the Graduate Faculty Development program (and to count toward your graduate program's requirement), register for both sessions and then contact Isaac Strong.**
**Please be aware that all sessions may be full, or you may be unable to register for both sessions at this time. More sessions may be added; check back periodically to see if more sessions are added. Vist the DEI Champion Training webpage for more information.**
Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff
Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff
Facilitators: Liz Silva, PhD and Isaac Strong, PhD
Description: Our goal is to provide participants with some of the skills needed hold healing spaces for members of their communities. These healing spaces will bring people together to grieve or express anxieties, to feel community, and to feel safe and supported in the aftermath of the election. Participants must be willing to commit the time and energy to both participate in this training and to setting and holding virtual gatherings with your learners, staff and faculty. This training will include specific instructions for structuring your gathering, a list of additional resources that can be shared broadly to help the members of your community seek the support and information they need, and email templates for reaching out to the members of your smaller communities.
Registration Information:
Session 1
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Registration is Full
Session 2
Thursday, October 22, 2020
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Registration is Closed - contact Isaac Strong for more information
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fundamentals
Faculty DEI Conversations
Facilitator: Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW
Description: "It's okay to not have come to know, but it can't be okay to refuse to grow." Dr. Hoyt will facilitate a conversation with faculty and staff about topics covered in the Grad Div DEI Primer as a way to create the groundwork to empower everyone to engage in important conversations about racism and inequity in science. Whether you feel completely behind and want to learn where to start, or you want to enage with your colleagues on issues for which you are passionate, the goal of this session is to provide a shared language to encourage more of us to engage in these conversations. This session is meant to provide faculty with some preparation to participate in the accompanying session, "Equity and Inclusion in the Lab" on Wednesday, February 17th which is open to faculty, staff, postdocs, and students. (note: details tentative, subject to change)
Registration Information:
Session for Faculty
via Zoom
February 16, 2021 | 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Equity and Inclusion in the Lab
Equity and Inclusion in the Lab
Facilitator: Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW
Description: This session will provide an opportunity for faculty, postdocs, and students to have an open, honest, empathic, constructive, and productive dialogue about equity and inclusion. This session will cover topics of intersectionality of identity, implicit bias, and cognitive dissonance. The major focus of the session will be on microaggressions - what they are, how they can have profound impacts on members of our community, and methods to respond to microaggressions in a respectful manner.
Registration Information:
Session for Trainees/Staff/Faculty
via Zoom
February 17, 2021 | 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Past DEI Trainings
Equity and Inclusion in the Lab
Date: November 21-22, 2019
Facilitator: Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW
Description: Each of these two-hour workshops will provide an opportunity for faculty, postdocs, and students to have an open, honest, empathic, constructive, and productive dialogue about equity and inclusion. These workshops will cover topics of intersectionality of identity, implicit bias, and cognitive dissonance. The major focus of these sessions will be on microaggressions - what they are, how they can have profound impacts on members of our community, and methods to respond to microaggressions in a respectful manner.
Resources from the workshops:
Science of Bias and Microaggressions
Date: May 2019
Facilitators: Dr. AZA Allsop and Dr. Bruce Birren
Acknowledging and Negotiating the Mentor/Mentee Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab
Date: April 26 & 27, 2019
Facilitator: Carlos Hoyt, PhD, LICSW
Diversity, equity, and inclusion Resources
Disentangling the Roles of Research Faculty
Sharpening Your (Research) Mentoring Skills
Sharpening Your (Research) Mentoring Skills
Facilitator(s): TBD
Description: More details coming soon.
Registration Information:
Morning Session
April 27, 2021 | 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Afternoon Session
April 29, 2021 | 2 - 3:30 p.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Past Trainings
Sharpening Your Mentoring Skills
Date: April 26 & 29, 2019
Facilitator: Sharon Milgram, PhD
Description: Dr. Milgram led the faculty participants in lectures and small group discussions designed to help them:
- Distinguish the differences among the three roles the thesis mentor must fulfill for their students: scientific mentor, career mentor and supervisor.
- Recognize situations where students may need additional support with career development, mental health and wellness.
- Report an improved level of comfort around how to develop and discuss shared expectations with thesis students.
- Recognize situations where psychosocial factors and cultural competency could negatively impact the lab environment and mentoring relationships.
Resources from the workshops:
NIH PI Management and Leadership Course
Date: 2017
Facilitator: Sharon Milgram, PhD
Roles of Research Faculty Resources
Research Faculty Role-Specific Trainings
Click on the drop-down menus below to view professional development opportunities for each of the roles of research faculty.
Trainings Focused on Your Role as a Mentor/Advisor
Career Conversations
Facilitator(s): TBD
Description: More details coming soon.
Registration Information:
Virtual Session via Zoom
May 11, 2021 | 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Inclusive Mentoring
Facilitator(s): TBD
Description: More details coming soon.
Registration Information:
Virtual Session via Zoom
March 9, 2021 | 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Trainings Focused on Your Role as a Supervisor
Setting Expectations with a "Welcome to the Lab" Letter
Facilitator(s): Bill Lindstaedt, MS and Isaac Strong, PhD
Description: Clearly communicating equitable and inclusive expectations is key to effective team management. In her "Sharpening Your Mentoring Skills" seminar, Sharon Milgram recommended that research faculty adopt a "Welcome to the Lab" letter - a document that can be shared to set expectations and understandings around behavior, productivity, culture and research vision.
Registration Information:
Part 1 via Zoom
December 1, 2020 | 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Part 2 via Zoom
December 8, 2020 | 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Registration Closed
Optimizing the Efficiency of Your Lab
Facilitator(s): Kirstie Keller, PhD
Description: Optimally successful labs harness the power of their collective group and create a product that is greater than the sum of its parts, while developing effective scientists in the process. A lab can be viewed in part as a small business, which requires the critical components of management, budgeting, and employee development, but has the unique additional pressures of publishing, funding, and systematic turnover. How then do we optimize performance in such an ever-changing environment? In this seminar, we will discuss the what, why, and how of effective laboratory leadership, providing tangible and tactical techniques to implement into your lab to simplify communication, develop your workforce, and take things off of your plate through delegation. After this seminar, you should be able to put processes in place that encourage the independence of your lab members and leverage the individual strengths of each member to expand the productivity of the entire group.
Topics:
- Minding the gap at the intersection of supervisor and advisor, and why this matters
- Project management tactics and tools
- Models of delegation
- Science (and art) of team building
- How to build appropriate metrics of success
Registration Information:
Virtual via Zoom
November 10, 2020 | 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Event has concluded
Trainings Focused on Your Role as an Educator
Holistic Review of Applications
Facilitator(s): Liz Silva, PhD
Description: More details coming soon.
Registration Information:
Virtual Session via Zoom
April 13, 2021 | 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Registration Link (coming soon)
Past Trainings
ACRA: Setting Training Expectations for Trainees on the Academic Career Track
December 12 and 19, 2019
Facilitator: Laurence Clement, PhD
Description: Mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral scholars involves providing career-development guidance and support, which requires an understanding of the hiring practices of diverse types of institutions. To this end, the OCPD team interviewed life science faculty members around the U.S. and asked them to identify the qualifications that were required for obtaining a faculty position at their institution, and the level of achievement candidates needed to receive a faculty job offer. The results were synthesized into a rubric, the Academic Career Readiness Assessment (ACRA). ACRA is an instrument used by trainees, graduate career educators, and faculty at UCSF and nationally to help prepare trainees for diverse academic careers, including careers at R1 institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), liberal arts colleges (LACs) and community colleges. Last month, the ACRA project received the first prize for the 2019 AAMC Innovations in Research and Research Education award.
In this workshop, we will discuss ways in which this tool can be used to set training expectations with your trainees, provide feedback on progress, help trainees prioritize training activities, and prepare them for the faculty application process. We will also present the methodology used to develop ACRA. The workshop will end with a conversation around your own experience developing skills for a faculty position and your thoughts on how the ACRA can be expanded to support your mentoring needs.
Resources from the workshop:
Promoting Student Mental Health
March 3 and 10, 2020
Facilitators: Jeanne Stanford, PhD and John Tighe, LCSW
Description:
Part 1: Promoting Student Mental Health and Assisting Students in Distress: A Presentation and Discussion (for Staff and Faculty)
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Part 2: When You're Concerned: A Workshop to Practice Difficult Conversations with Students about Their Mental Health and Wellbeing (for Faculty only)
Effective Strategies for IDPs
Date: April 23, 2020
Facilitator: Bill Lindstaedt
Description: To help you determine how to effectively guide your trainees through an Independent Development Plan (IDP), this workshop will focus on key components of effective IDPs and IDP conversations. Bill Lindstaedt, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Career Advancement, International and Postdoctoral Services, will share his expertise in order to frame the underlying aspects that make the effort of an IDP worth the effort, as well as different strategies that you can employ to get the most out of an IDP conversation. Bill will also cover how you can adapt these strategies to help your trainees establish a COVID plan by working together to establish short-term and long-term goals that can provide much-needed structure during the current crisis. This workshop will include a presentation, small-group discussions of case studies using Zoom's breakout rooms, and large-group discussion/Q&A.
Materials from Effective Strategies for IDPs workshop:
- Presentation slides (PDF)
- Suggested IDP prompts for trainees and mentors
- Suggested "ICP" prompts for trainees and mentors
- Scenarios for rearranging research priorities
- Workshop recording (for UCSF faculty)
Other Useful Resources:
Effective Strategies for IDPs for the Partial Resumption of Lab Research
May 26, 2022
Facilitator: Bill Lindstaedt
Description: To help you determine how to effectively guide your trainees through an Independent Development Plan (IDP), this workshop will focus on key components of effective IDPs and IDP conversations. Bill Lindstaedt, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Career Advancement, International and Postdoctoral Services, will share his expertise in order to frame the underlying aspects that make the effort of an IDP worth the effort, as well as different strategies that you can employ to get the most out of an IDP conversation. Bill will also cover how you can adapt these strategies to help your trainees establish a COVID plan by working together to establish short-term and long-term goals that can provide much-needed structure during the current crisis. This iteration of a previosuly-delivered workshop will is aimed at helping faculty think through equitable, team-based appraoches for the partial resumption of lab research at UCSF. This workshop will include a presentation, small-group discussions of case studies using Zoom's breakout rooms, and large-group discussion/Q&A.
Materials from Effective Strategies for IDPs workshop: (see above as well)
- Presentation slides (PDF)
- Presentation slides (PPTX)
- Suggested "ICP" prompts for trainees and mentors
- Scenarios for rearranging research priorities (updated)
- Workshop recording (for UCSF faculty)
Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty
April 30, 2022
Facilitators: Jeanne Stanford, PhD; Alexandra Thurston, PsyD; and Andrew Parker, PhD
Description: The Graduate Division conducted a pulse check survey of graduate students and faculty to understand the complex challenges that members of our community are facing (data coming soon). Understandably, our trainees are generally struggling with many complex mental health issues that are complicated by the uncertainty and disruption caused by the pandemic. Faculty face their own challenges during this crisis and our data reveal that the difficult task of attending to student mental health has become even more difficult.
Mental health support staff from Student Health and Counseling Services and from the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program will lead this session, aimed at providing you with guidance and an opportunity to voice your concerns.
Materials from Q&A Session:
Tools and Tips for Virtual Learning
June 10, 2022
Facilitators: Janet Coffman, MA, MPP, PhD; Dorie Apollonio, PhD; Lisa Leiva, MS; and Isaac Strong, PhD
Description: It can be difficult to know how to effectively adapt in-person courses to online formats. This webinar will present a conceptual framework and guiding principles that can help you strategically assess how to transition your current courses online. During this webinar, you will also learn about practical tools and resources available to you and learn from other faculty about what has worked for them.
Non-Graduate Faculty Development Program Training Opportunities
CTSI Mentor Training Program
Run through the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), the MTP creates an integrated environment for mentors and mentors-in-training, encouraging creative and innovative networking, discussing a range of mentoring challenges and a myriad of solutions, developing a toolbox of strategies, and using discussions and collective experiences to build a community of mentoring excellence. In addition to research faculty, many residency and fellowship directors and others who run training programs have found the MTP to be very useful. All are strongly encouraged to apply.
The course consists of six core modules taught through web-based and face-to-face meetings that provide an overview of core mentoring competencies. We address the learning objectives, through readings (required and suggested), short lectures and videos, as well as self-directed exercises and case studies.
Office of the Ombuds
UCSF's Office of the Ombuds is an excellent resource for UCSF staff, faculty, students and postdocs, offering a safe, confidential place to discuss UCSF-related issues and explore possibilities for informally addressing concerns. Importantly, the Office of the Ombuds offers trainings tailored to requests. Such trainings include, but are not limited to:
- Conflict Coaching 101
- Conflict Competence as a Core Leadership Skill
- Conflict Manager Training
- Taking the Difficulty out of Difficult Conversations
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Team Building
NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education
Preparing to Teach and Advise Biomedical Grad Students and Postdocs Around Career and Professional Development: A Train-the-Trainers Event
The NIH OITE has moved their Train-the-trainers event to a virtual format. This training is for advisors, staff and faculty who provide career and professional development programming and guidance to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. We have substantially updated the agenda. We have adjusted the start time to accommodate West Coast attendees. Additionally, we have added a third day (Thursday- July 23) to provide content to help us all navigate issues arising from current events. All registrants will also be invited to participate in optional small group discussions (1-hour) to enhance their learning on July 22-24.
When: July 20-24, 2020
(lectures on July 20, 21 and 23. Optional small groups requiring a 1-hour commitment on July 22-24).
Where: Virtual
Agenda: Please see the full agenda online
Register: There is no fee to attend this training, however advanced registration is required. Register here. Registration will close on July 3, 2020
This event will have content that is appropriate for first time attendees and returning participants. The first day will focus entirely on promoting the health and wellness of the biomedical research community. The second day will continue on the themes from day one with an additional focus on career advising and taking care of ourselves. Then, on Thursday we have added lecture and discussion for helping all of us navigate current events. Questions, please contact Dr. Lori Conlan and Dr. Phil Ryan at [email protected].
Resources from this event:
Updated on August 26, 2020