Society of Teaching Scholars (STS)

Views STS Bylaws (PDF)

In 1992, The Edward J. Lennon Endowed Clinical Teaching Award was established to recognize a full-time MCW faculty member in the earlier part of his/her career. This individual, reflecting Dr. Lennon's wishes, must be:

• A full time or full professional effort MCW faculty member;
• At the rank of instructor or assistant professor;
• Engaged in clinical practice (e.g., direct patient care) in any clinical specialty or subspecialty; and
• Recognized as actively interested in MCW’s teaching programs and committed to a career in direct teaching or the development of instructional strategies or tools.

In summary, the Lennon Award was created to recognize those junior faculty who have made a profound difference in the teaching programs of MCW. 

Established in honor of Dr. Elsa B. Cohen, an extraordinary teacher, educator and leader at the Medical College of Wisconsin for over 25 years, this fund supports programs to advance the knowledge, skills and passions of physician educators. Each year, a visiting professor who epitomizes Elsa's passion, curiosity, rigor and commitment to understanding the teaching and learning process will be invited for a day long-symposium for MCW/CHW teachers supported by the fund. MCW's Society of Teaching Scholars and the CHW Foundation under the guidance of the advisory board will coordinate the symposium. Dr. Cohen was in the first cohort of elected society members, installed in 1991.

Contributions to the Elsa B. Cohen, MD, MBA Fund for Medical Education may be made through:

Children's Hospital and Health System Foundation
PO Box 1997
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1997

Ways to Give to Children's Wisconsin

For more information, please contact Kelly Sachse at (414) 266-6121 or ksachse@chw.org

Advisory Board
Katherine L. Charlton, JD 
Roger D. Cohen, MD 
Gerald Hanson, MD  
Karen Marcdante, MD  
Deborah Simpson, PhD 
LuAnn Wilkerson, EdD 

The Marvin Wagner Preceptor Award was established in 1998 to recognize the contributions of our volunteer preceptors/clinical faculty members. Our volunteer preceptors/clinical faculty provide an extremely valuable service to MCW. 

The recipient should demonstrate enthusiasm, selfless dedication, effective teaching and outstanding commitment to medical education of students, residents or fellows as has been shown by Dr. Wagner in his 50 + years career as a voluntary faculty member at MCW.

View the member list.

The Society of Teaching Scholars is not only an honorary award. Members participate in active service to promote excellence in education and educational scholarship. Candidates will be recognized for their past, present and future service to MCW’s educational mission.

General Criteria

1. Full-time or Full Professional Effort MCW faculty: clinical or basic science faculty in the medical school (including faculty whose primary teaching responsibilities are in the graduate school) or pharmacy school with MD, PhD, PharmD or other terminal degrees
2. Candidates will have a record of at least six years of excellence in educational leadership, educational scholarship, and/or educational excellence (2 of 3) with at least 2 years at MCW
3. Submission of application from

Specific Criteria

Candidates suitable for nomination should have documented evidence of sustained educational excellence in a minimum of two of the following three areas:

1. Educational Scholarship:
   1. Peer reviewed published papers focusing on education
   2. Peer reviewed endurable products (e.g., curriculum, learner assessment tools) accepted by medical education (e.g., MedEdPORTAL) and/or specialty specific (e.g. AGS’s POGOe; STFM’s FMDRL, Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine) repositories.
   3. Education-specific grants
   4. Education-specific books
   5. Development and evaluation of new instructional materials, techniques, and/or learner assessment tools
   6. National and regional peer-reviewed education presentations (workshops, plenary, research/scholarly work)
   7. National and regional invited presentations on education topics
2. Educational Leadership: in one or more of the following areas
   1. MCW Course or Clerkship Leadership; (Course Director, Co-Director, Major Section Leader);
   2. Residency, graduate program, or CME director;
   3. Education committee participation (e.g. MCW Curriculum and Evaluation Committee, Graduate Medical Education Committee, Graduate Studies Council). Other evidence of MCW educational leadership;
   4. National leadership position in educational organization (e.g. NBME, ACGME, AAMC), society (e.g., Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education), or discipline specific national education groups/committees (e.g., Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics).
3. Educational Excellence
   1. Documented excellence in direct educational activities for a minimum of 4 years, as judged by measurable criteria such as:
      1. Written course evaluations
      2. Teaching evaluations
      3. Support letters from students, residents and/or junior faculty regarding mentorship
      4. Documentation of educational impact; e.g. changes in pre- to post scores, changes in clinical practice behaviors, OSCE performance

Nomination Process
Nominations are completed in the Spring of each year. The following information is required for the submission packet:

1. Nomination letter from Department Chair, Center
2. Candidate CV – Use MCW CV Style
3. Supporting documents/evidence of educational excellence/scholarship (see above criteria)

The Society of Teaching Scholars offers the expertise of its members to enhance the teaching and education at MCW. To schedule a presentation/workshop please contact the Scholar listed below the education topic of interest to your MCW department/group.

Communication Skills
Carlyle Chan, MD

Death by PowerPoint: Updating Computer Assisted Presentation Skills
Carlyle Chan, MD

Strategies for Effective Medical Lecturing
Carlyle Chan, MD

Teaching in the Clinic
Geoffrey Lamb, MD

Teaching in the Presence of the Patient
Geoffrey Lamb, MD

Use of Clinical Cases in Basic Science Lectures
Hershel Raff, PhD