Wendy
Ward,
PhD
Associate Provost for Faculty
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Dr. Wendy Ward is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor with tenure in the UAMS College of Medicine. She serves UAMS as Associate Provost for Faculty. She serves all five colleges, the Graduate School, and Academic Affairs faculty in these two roles, including recruitment, onboarding, faculty development, mentoring, promotion, professional wellness, leadership development, retirement transitioning, and emeriti engagement. Her expertise is in integrated care models and collaborative practice, team-based telehealth, behavioral medicine, faculty affairs, and faculty development. Dr. Ward is also Director of Interprofessional Faculty Development in the UAMS IPE office, contributing to facilitator training, event design, and current workforce development.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Introduction: Faculty burnout and student distress are reaching a crisis point in healthcare education. The causes are multiple and global. Recent data show that 64% of faculty experience work-related burnout, with 19% reporting a high degree and 15% a very high degree of burnout. Students are navigating persistent post-pandemic fatigue, mental health concerns, financial pressures, and academic challenges. Many faculty feel underprepared to address students in difficulty, especially when issues are sensitive and involve suicidality, mental health disorders, or Title IX concerns. In response…
Introduction: In a complex, interprofessional, and geographically dispersed academic health center—comprising 72 degree programs across six colleges, eleven campuses, and a broad network of adjunct faculty and volunteer preceptors—the need for cohesive, high-quality faculty development is critical.Methods: To address this, the Faculty Excellence Seminar Series was launched as a centralized, cross-college initiative aimed at fostering faculty growth, connection, and impact across the academic health sciences. Structured around a monthly cadence, the series delivers targeted sessions in five…
Introduction:Faculty development in academic health centers often relies on structured workshops and didactic formats, which can limit engagement and cross-disciplinary dialogue. To create a more dynamic, reflective, and community-building experience, our institution launched Faculty Movie Night in 2018—a quarterly series using public health-themed films as a springboard for continuing education, networking, and interprofessional discussion.Method:Held quarterly on Monday evenings at a local movie theater during its off-peak hours, each Faculty Movie Night features a documentary or fiction…
Introduction:Despite the widespread endorsement of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies and broad implementation of trainee-focused events, structured opportunities for the current healthcare workforce to deepen interprofessional skills are limited. To address this gap, our academic health center developed the Learning and Education in Group Opportunities (LEGO)—a monthly interprofessional seminar series designed to reinforce and apply IPEC competencies in real-world academic and clinical settings.Methods:The LEGO series is centrally coordinated and delivered in-…