ASP Manual - Appendix G

AHEC Scholar Faculty Mentors must be academically prepared to teach health profession students and who have a proven record of health profession work in rural and/or urban underserved. Faculty Mentors are critical to ensuring AHEC Scholars have an engaging interprofessional experience and ultimately complete the two-year program. Accordingly, Faculty Mentors may only provide mentoring support to one Scholar team per year.

Faculty Mentor duties include the following: 

• Provide direct mentoring support to a team ranging from 15-20 AHEC Scholars at assigned Regional Center site.
• Ensure AHEC Scholars comply with responsibilities and deadlines of the program and continuously promote Scholar retention. This includes participation in the electronic course management system, D2L, and completion of attendance reflecting participation in ASP activities (i.e., immersions, monthly seminars, and annual conference) in D2L.
• In collaboration with the Regional Center, assign make-up work when a Scholar is unable to attend a monthly seminar, Immersion, or other program activity.
• Assign make-up work when a scholar is unable to attend a monthly seminar.
• Work with the AzAHEC Program Office, Rural Health Professions Program Directors and Staff, and Regional AzAHEC Directors and Staff to document and track progress of AHEC Scholar teams.
• Oversee and ensure AHEC Scholars individual and team projects are completed, approved and submitted as documented in the AHEC Scholars Manual inclusive of adherence to deadlines for the following activities:
  • Year 1 Poster Presentation^[1]
  • Year 1 Community Assessment Report^[2]
  • Year 2 Podium Presentation^[3]
  • Year 2 Scholarly Report^[4]
• Collaborate with the Regional Center Director to plan curriculum for the immersions. Attend and participate in scheduled immersions at assigned Regional Center.
• Prepare or develop and present ONE monthly seminar topic annually that is appropriate for all AHEC Scholars. The seminar must be based on one or more of the HRSA core topics. This requirement may be fulfilled by identifying and coordinating with an outside presenter (who must have relevant academic credentials) or by faculty mentor’s own presentation. The following schedule identifies the timeline for submittal of the monthly seminar:

1.  September 12 (or next working day) of each fiscal year- each faculty mentor’s seminar topic must be identified and submitted to the AzAHEC Program Director.
2.  November 15 (or next working day) of each fiscal year- a seminar must be provided and submitted at least once annually by each Faculty Mentor, regardless of the month when it is scheduled for discussion.
3.  The Faculty mentor is responsible for obtaining appropriate permissions when utilizing seminar material provided by a third party. This may include video rights and accessibility for all Scholars, regardless of ABOR institution attended.

Monthly Seminar Guidelines:

To ensure a high-quality and impactful learning experience, consider the following guidelines when preparing your monthly seminar presentation and material(s):

1. Relevant Content
   1. Along with the HRSA core topics, focus on topics that are directly relevant to the challenges, strengths, and needs of rural and underserved communities.
   2. Emphasize current and emerging issues affecting Arizona communities and populations, drawing from recent data, local context and policies.
   3. Address interprofessional perspectives to ensure the content is inclusive and applicable across all participating health disciplines including Public Health.
   4. When possible, incorporate real-world case studies or examples to enhance learning and understanding.
2. Foster Engagement
   1. Include discussion questions to prompt meaningful discussion and critical thinking during group discussion.
   2. Think about how the content you’re preparing will encourage Scholars to reflect on how it relates to their own disciplines and future roles in addressing disparities or difficult situations.
   3. Aim to create a space that supports humility in engagement with other communities, empathy, and open-minded exploration.
3. Technical Quality
   1. Ensure clear audio and video quality. Test your microphone and camera prior to recording the presentation.
   2. Minimize background noise and distractions to maintain Scholar engagement.
   3. If using slides, verify that all visuals are legible and accessible.
4. Content Length
   1. Thoughtful, high-quality content is valued more than presentation length. A well-organized 30- or 40-minute presentation might be as impactful as an hour-long presentation.  
   2. Focus on delivering engaging and purposeful material that supports student learning regardless of duration. 
      
       

Faculty Mentor Qualifications 

AHEC Scholar Faculty Mentors must meet the following requirements to be qualified to participate as a faculty mentor:

• Have relevant expertise related to teaching, conducting research, or practicing with rural and/or urban underserved populations and/or communities.
• Have a master’s degree or above in a health discipline.
• Be academically prepared to teach health profession students.
• Experience with professional conference submissions, including posters and presentations.