Learning Environment Committee

The Learning Environment Committee was formed to ensure the best educational experiences for our medical students, staff, and faculty by continuously proactively addressing, monitoring, and responding to issues in the learning environment across the WWAMI region.

History of the committee

In 2010, the school was cited for challenges in the learning environment based on our students’ experiences of mistreatment as reported on AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) results. This is a nationwide issue, but our rates of students reporting mistreatment were higher than the national average. The school made considerable efforts to ameliorate the situation, and the 2013 GQ showed improvement to near the national average of mistreatment. As a result, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the medical school accrediting body, found the school compliant in 2014. However, the 2015 GQ showed increased rates of student mistreatment, so the inaugural version of the Learning Environment Committee was launched in 2016. A number of interventions were deployed which resulted in notable improvement. However, in 2018, mistreatment numbers were still higher than the national average. LCME again deemed the school non-compliant regarding student mistreatment.

Restructuring of the committee

A new structural paradigm that provides for an overarching body with the authority to effect substantive change in the learning environment across UW Medicine was instituted. This model is centered on the idea that the learning environment touches all aspects of UW Medicine: It includes not only students, but anyone who is interacting in that environment, including nurses, therapists and other clinical staff, faculty, residents, researchers, and fellows. The overarching body, the Learning Environment Steering Committee, is chaired by Dr. Tim Dellit, Chief Medical Officer of UW Medicine. Others serving on this steering committee include undergraduate and graduate medical education leadership, chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, chairs, as well as other administrators working to enhance the learning and working environments. The steering committee will oversee subcommittees or “arms” responsible for various areas of the learning environment. As a result of the restructuring, the inaugural Learning Environment Committee became the Student Arm of this larger body.

Membership

The Student Arm aims to achieve representation from across the School of Medicine and WWAMI so that its members can benefit from rich perspective.

Chairs (Voting)	Last Name	First Name	Site
Co-Chair, Associate Dean for Student Affairs	Maestas	Raye	SEA
Co-Chair, Interim Associate Dean for Curriculum	Whipple	Mark	SEA
Voting Members	Last Name	First Name	Site
Assistant Dean for Student Support, Student Affairs	Tolbert	Gerald	SEA
Center for Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (CEDI)	Morales	Leo	SEA
Clerkship Director	Mendiratta	Vicki	SEA
Clinical Clerkship Administrator	Fear	Sara	SEA
Clinical Dean – Regional	Monger	Robert	WY
Clinical Dean – Seattle	TBD	TBD	SEA
College Faculty	Jackson	Molly	SEA
Departmental Chair	Esselman	Peter	SEA
Faculty Development	Combs	Heidi	SEA
Foundations Dean	Teintze	Martin	MT
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Faculty	Leinicke	Tanya	AK
Learning Environment Director	Frank	Melinda	SEA
MSA Student Representatives (MSA)	Jeong	Lily	SEA
Member At Large – Regional	Worth	Dustin	ID
Member At Large – Seattle	Kiefer	Meghan	SEA
MSTP Student Representative	TBD	TBD	SEA
Organization of Student Representatives (OSR)	Devaraju	Monica	SPO
Regional Foundations Representative	Fuerst	Peter	ID
Rural Programs	McCarthy	John	SPO
Student Affairs	Wood	Sarah	SEA
Ex-Officio Members (Non-Voting)	Last Name	First Name	Site
Center for Leadership & Innovation in Medical Education (CLIME)	Jauregui	Joshua	SEA
Communications	Blakeley	Kim	SEA
Data	Campion	Michael	SEA
Dean of Education Strategy	Wenrich	Marj	SEA
Educational Quality Improvement (EQI)	Kim	Sara	SEA
Evaluation	Schaad	Doug	SEA
MSA Student Representatives – Foundations MS2	Blekkenk	Parker	MT
OSR Student Representative – Foundations MS1	Thigpen	Kia Gianni	SEA
OSR Student Representative – Clinical MS3	Herridge-Meyer	Zannah	SEA
OSR Student Representative – Clinical MS4	Marceau	Eric	MT

Minutes

Please click here to view what the committee is currently working on. (Coming soon.)