I. BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Deans of five west region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine came together to discuss ways in which their colleges might effectively collaborate to address important issues faced by the profession and the colleges. The result was the formation of the Consortium of West Region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine. Recognizing that improving educational practices was a primary shared goal, the Deans and their representatives chose to establish and support a regional teaching Academy as the first initiative of the new consortium. All colleges of veterinary medicine that are members of the Consortium are eligible to participate in the Regional Teaching Academy.

II. NAME: The Consortium of West Region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, henceforth referred to as ‘the Consortium.’ The Teaching Academy of the Consortium of West Region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, henceforth referred to as ‘the Academy’ or ‘the Teaching Academy.’

III. MISSION: To meet the needs of society and the profession, Fellows of the Teaching Academy will collaborate to develop, implement, critically evaluate, and disseminate the best practices in veterinary medical education and to establish ‘medical/biomedical educator’ as a valued career track.

IV. ENTITIES: The other entities of the Academy are defined as follows:

a. A ‘committee’ is a permanent administrative unit of the Academy.

b. An ‘initiative’ is a working group that has become a permanent undertaking of the Academy to fulfill an aspect of the Academy’s mission.

c. A ‘working group’ is a group of educators that focuses on non-administrative areas related to the mission of the Academy. Working groups are created through a vote of the Academy Fellows. A working group can request funding from the Steering Committee for activities. Working Groups operate with a self-defined timeline and are expected to deliver tangible outcomes, such as reports, recommendations, or the development of new tools and resources. The activities and outputs of the group are periodically reviewed by the Steering Committee to ensure continual relevance and progress. In consultation with the working group chair or co-chairs, the Steering Committee will review and make a determination to continue, dissolve, or transition the group to an initiative. Products of past working groups will be archived by the Academy.

d. An ‘interest group’ is a group of Fellows and potentially other educators that coalesce around topics of interest to the Academy. Interest group activities are not eligible for funding from the Academy.

e. An ‘ad hoc working group’ is a temporary group initiated by the Steering Committee or Fellows to address emerging areas of growth under the mission of the Academy

a. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: By ‘educating the educators’ and bringing educators from member institutions together, the Academy will disseminate evidence-based best practices, develop the current and next generations of veterinary medical and biomedical educators, build cross-institutional collaborations, and encourage scholarship in teaching.

b. SCHOLARSHIP: The Academy will provide mechanisms and venues to encourage, support, disseminate, and make public scholarly works on teaching and learning, educational research, best practices, educational materials, etc.

c. ADVISE THE DEANS AND MEMBER COLLEGES: he Academy will, at the request of the Deans or member institutions, address teaching and learning issues that might be difficult to address at individual institutions. The Academy may develop and endorse position papers or consensus statements or form working groups to consider specific issues .

d. RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE: The Academy will develop mechanisms to recognize creativity, innovation, and outstanding performance in instruction, educational research, educational leadership, development and sharing of enduring educational materials, or other areas relevant to teaching and learning.

e. BIENNIAL REGIONAL MEETING: A conference to advance one or more of the above missions will be held every other year using member institutions as the venue on a rotating basis.

f. OTHER ACTIVITIES: The Academy may provide an external review board for specific functions defined by the Academy members, Steering Committee, or the Deans.

a. FELLOWSHIP ELIGIBILITY: Academy fellowship is open to individuals who hold or have held a permanent or continuous academic appointment at one of the Consortium institutions, and who play or have played a significant role in the teaching mission of their institution. Fellows may be at any stage of their academic careers.

b. CRITERIA FOR FELLOWSHIP IN THE ACADEMY include:

i. A commitment to the collaborative work of the Academy

ii. Demonstrated accomplishments in at least TWO of the following categories:

1. Teaching effectiveness
2. Innovation in teaching
3. Development of enduring educational materials
4. Effective and creative uses of evidence-based teaching methods
5. Educational scholarship (creating knowledge about teaching)
6. Educational leadership

iii. Evidence of quality and quantity in the categories for which the prospective fellow has been nominated.

i. Committee/working group participation
ii. Attendance at Academy meetings
iii. Producing educational resources, white papers, etc.
iv. Delivering Academy courses
v. Mentoring junior educators

i. Fellows may participate in all activities of the Academy.

ii. Only Fellows may receive financial support from the Academy unless otherwise approved by the Steering Committee or its designees.

iii. Only Fellows are eligible to serve as entity chairs or members of the Steering Committee in the Academy.

i. Changing institutions: Fellows who move from one Consortium institution to another will retain their status as Academy Fellows, but fellowship will end if a fellow moves to an institution outside the Consortium.

ii. Retirement: The continued active engagement of Fellows who retire from their institutions is welcome. The terms and expectations of fellowship remain unchanged.

i. Every year, a call for nominations will be sent out by the Fellows Committee to the Deans and all active Academy Fellows.

ii. Each nomination for fellowship should include:

iii. Nomination packets will be reviewed by the Fellows Committee, and recommendations submitted to the Steering Committee for approval.

iv. The Deans will be notified of new Fellows by the Chair of the Steering Committee or their delegate.teering Committee

i. Conduct no less than four meetings during the fiscal year, including at least one in-person meeting annually. The remaining meetings may be conducted via electronic media or in person and must have a simple majority to have a quorum.

ii. Serve as Academy Liaisons for their respective institutions.

iii. Approve annual Academy budgets and identify potential resources.

iv. Establish Academy policies and procedures, including terms and organization of the Academy.

v. Determine Academy priorities.

vii. Establish benchmarks and metrics to determine the success of the Academy and Academy-related projects.

viii. Review the recommendations of the Fellows Committee regarding new and continuing Academy Fellows.

ix. Identify and engage appropriate individuals to provide necessary administrative support for the Academy.

b. MEMBERSHIP: The Steering Committee shall consist of two representatives from each of the Consortium member institutions. Initial members of the Steering Committee shall be appointed by their respective Deans, with one serving a two-year term and one serving a three-year term. Thereafter, members will be elected in alternate years by a majority vote of the Fellows from their respective institutions and shall normally serve a four-year term.

c. OFFICERS: The officers of the Steering Committee shall be a Chair, a Chair-Elect, and a Treasurer. All officers may serve more than one term. The Chair-Elect will normally be elected annually by the Steering Committee from its membership and will serve a one-year term and advance to the position of Chair for a one-year term. The Treasurer shall be elected in each even-numbered year by a majority vote of the Steering Committee membership. The Treasurer shall serve a two-year term.

The responsibilities and duties of the Steering Committee’s officers shall be as follows:

i. CHAIR: The Chair shall call and organize meetings of the Steering Committee; shall preside at all Academy functions; shall serve as primary liaison with the Consortium; shall prepare an annual report, program plan, and annual budget for the coming year in collaboration with the Treasurer. The budget will be presented to the Steering Committee for approval, provided to all Academy Fellows electronically, and presented at the biennial meeting of the Academy.

ii. CHAIR-ELECT: The Chair-Elect shall be responsible for organizing all Steering Committee meetings in collaboration with the Chair; shall keep minutes of all Steering Committee meetings; shall act in the absence or incapacity of the Chair at any Academy meeting.

iii. TREASURER: The Treasurer shall receive monies from the Consortium and other sources; shall assist the Chair and Chair-Elect in preparing a budget; shall keep all financial records; and shall prepare a year-end financial report for the Academy and the Consortium.

a. LEADERSHIP: Each entity shall be led by a chair (or co-chairs), to oversee activities, prepare annual activity reports for the Steering Committee, Academy, and Consortium; and maintain fiscal responsibility for the committee’s activities. A liaison from the Steering Committee may serve as Chair, or the Chair may be selected from the group membership.

b. STANDING COMMITTEES:

c. NEW WORKING GROUPS: The process for forming a Working Group requires a brief proposal limited to two pages outlining the benefits, anticipated required resources, and three-year vision or plan to be submitted to the Steering Committee which reviews all proposals for completeness and available resources. All Working Group proposals require a final two-thirds majority of Fellows who vote for acceptance. There are two pathways for creating new working groups:

a. The Academy bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds majority of Fellows who vote.

b. Any Fellow in good standing may propose an amendment to the bylaws by submitting a written proposal to the Steering Committee. A simple majority vote by the Steering Committee is required to send the proposal forward to the entire Academy for adoption or rejection as described above.