

Faculty Factory
Faculty Factory
The Faculty Factory is a community of faculty development leaders in academic medicine. We share a passion for serving faculty and helping them exceed their clinical, research, education, program building, and leadership expectations. Learn more at FacultyFactory.org!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 17, 2023 • 58min
Top Ten Tips for New Faculty with Mary Deane Sorcinelli, EdD
As longtime listeners can attest, we love lists here at the Faculty Factory. This week we are joined by Mary Deane Sorcinelli, EdD who brings us the gift of her top ten tips for new faculty.
Dr. Sorcinelli is Professor Emeritus & Senior Fellow, Center for Teaching & Learning with University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Providing guidance and support to help navigate the challenges of academic medicine is what we are all about. Dr. Sorcinelli’s in-depth list will help young faculty build a strong foundation for the rigors of their career.
While geared towards young faculty, this list provides truly valuable insights and advice that will benefit faculty at all stages of their career.
The list came from Dr. Sorcinelli thinking about what advice she wished she had received when she started out in her career.
“I looked at the research which had identified a couple of core issues and interwoven concerns that new faculty have,” she told us.
To learn more, please feel free to reach out to Dr. Sorcinelli via email: dene@umass.edu. She will be more than happy to send you a document of the tips she outlined in today’s interview.

Feb 10, 2023 • 41min
Pearls of Wellness for Faculty with Jennifer A. Villwock, MD
Making her Faculty Factory Podcast debut this week is Jennifer A. Villwock, MD! Dr. Villwock joins us for a full exploration of wellness within our field.
Dr. Villwock currently serves as Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
As Dr. Villlwock points out early in this episode, wellness is not something that we have historically done well for ourselves within the culture of medicine.
Learn More
Read more on FacultyFactory.org: https://facultyfactory.org/jennifer-villwock/
Check out Dr. Villwock’s powerful Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/ViIDJC3Lbss
You can reach out to her via email here: jvillwock@kumc.edu

Feb 3, 2023 • 45min
3 Important Topics for Faculty with Megan Palmer PhD, MS
Megan Palmer PhD, MS, is back this week with three important topics she would like to share with our community. It has been well over three years since her last visit to the Faculty Factory Podcast.
Dr. Palmer is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Higher Education in the School of Education at Indiana University. She is also the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Professional Development, and Diversity.
While these topics are specific to her institution and the state of Indiana, there are takeaways from this discussion sure to spark ideas for faculty around the globe.
The three topics examined on today’s interview (and the approximate time stamps of when they are introduced) are as follows:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice. This discussion takes place in the opening moments of the podcast.
In-Person vs. Hybrid Events and Remote Work. This portion of the chat starts around 20 minutes into the interview.
Faculty Safety. This third topic is discussed during the final ten minutes of the podcast.
Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/

Jan 27, 2023 • 38min
Building a Sense of Belonging: A Faculty Factory Reunion with Heather Brod
Heather Brod revisits us on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week for another enlightening chat. This week we are discussing what it means to belong and how we can help others build a sense of belonging at our institutions.
Heather joined our show last year for a memorable chat on executive coaching and leadership.
Heather is an executive coach and consultant. Prior to branching off on her own to go into coaching full time, Heather was Executive Director at the Center for Faculty Advancement Mentoring and Engagement with the Ohio State University’s College of Medicine in Columbus.
Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/belonging/

Jan 20, 2023 • 41min
Organizational Savvy in Academic Medicine and Science with R. Kevin Grigsby, MSW, DSW
It’s the return of R. Kevin Grigsby, MSW, DSW, on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week!
Dr. Grigsby joins our show for a timely discussion on organizational strategy in academic medicine. Today’s conversation also includes vital tidbits on leadership, how to conduct an efficient meeting, and much more.
Today’s episode is another example of a return guest rejoining our show for a powerful and memorable reunion episode. It was way back in September 2019 when he first joined us. As you would imagine, nearly three and a half years later there was a lot to catch up on.
You can revisit Dr. Grigsby’s episode from 2019 with us here.
Dr. Grigsby has entered a stage of his career he is describing as “replenishment” as he continues to work on projects he helps colleagues with in academic medicine and science.
Dr. Grigsby previously served as Senior Director, Member Organizational Development at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Dr. Grigsby started his academic career at Yale Child Study Center. As a social worker by training, Dr. Grigsby was involved with work in the early stages of his career with organizations, such as group homes and shelters for homeless kids.
He worked on research to help those organizations better meet their missions.
Dr. Grigsby spent almost a decade at Penn State College of Medicine as Vice Dean for Faculty and Administrative Affairs. Before he joined the AAMC in 2009, he was Vice Dean for Administration and Research at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

Jan 13, 2023 • 51min
How Faculty Can Succeed While Avoiding Overcommitment with Jennifer Apps, PhD
At some point in our academic medicine careers, we will all overcommit ourselves to an overwhelming number of responsibilities.
Jennifer Apps, PhD, joins the Faculty Factory Podcast this week to chat about reconnecting to our values to reclaim some balance.
Dr. Apps is a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children's Wisconsin, a pediatric acute care children's hospital in Milwaukee. She also serves as associate professor and the vice chair of faculty development in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Department.
No one wants to miss a potentially great opportunity and many of us have a hard time saying no, but without clearly defining our values it is difficult to prioritize what matters most.
“The worst feeling comes when you get into these positions and you feel like you're not doing any of them because you're just managing them all instead of really being able to excel,” she said.
As we enter a new year and Season 5 of the Faculty Factory Podcast, this interview will hopefully serve as an inspiration to many.
“We've all gone into these fields where we've demonstrated the ability to persevere towards a long-term goal, but in order to do that, you have to have these values that have been guiding you,” Dr. Apps said.
Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/

Jan 6, 2023 • 8min
State of the Podcast: ”A Season 5 Faculty Factory Preview”
It’s our annual “State of the Podcast” address this week on the Faculty Factory as we preview Season 5 and the year ahead! We are privileged to welcome listeners to this milestone fifth year of the Faculty Factory Podcast. Faculty Factory producer, Casey Callanan, MBA, joins podcast host Kimberly A. Skarupski, PhD, MPH, to recap some Faculty Factory community highlights from 2022 on today’s show. We also preview some of the exciting new resources, podcast episodes, and content that is coming as part of Season 5 in 2023! Here are some resources as mentioned in today’s episode:
Previous Podcast Seasons
As a friendly reminder, the previous seasons of this podcast have included:
Season 1: Discussions with Deans
Season 2: Snippets for Success
Season 3: Habits and Hacks from Hopkins (H3)
Season 4: Faculty Factory Reunions
eBooks
As mentioned in today’s show, Seasons 2 and 3 of the podcast come with a companion eBook that recaps a lot of the content that were outlined in those episodes. You can check them out here:
The Snippets for Success eBook [pdf]
The Habits and Hacks from Hopkins eBook [pdf]
Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs)
Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs) aim to make writing automatic, mechanical and routine. WAGs started as a group “writing bootcamp” for faculty members and its core principles can be utilized by any writer to improve their craft. Please visit WagYourWork.com and WAGs on HopkinsMedicine.org to learn more.
Become a Faculty Factory Guest
If you feel as though the timing is right for you – or a colleague you want to sponsor – to be interviewed on our show, please never hesitate to reach out to us via our contact us page or by sending an email to FacultyFactoryKim@gmail.com. If there is someone you think we need to talk to, please indicate the name and email address of the guest you would like to sponsor when you send us a message!
Thank You
The success of the Faculty Factory would not be possible without the generous contributions of the hundreds of folks who have donated their time to be interviewed for our show. We would like to send a sincere thank you to all who have contributed to this ongoing mission. You can also find us on Twitter where we look forward to connecting with our community even more.

Dec 30, 2022 • 9min
How to Better Navigate Social Media in Academic Medicine
Today’s episode of the Faculty Factory is a “Best of” show that includes highlights from past interviews of our show about how to best navigate social media in academic medicine. Today’s “Best of” show includes highlights from the following episodes:
Social Media Habits and Hacks with Sapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD
The Benefits and Pitfalls of Twitter in Academia with Mahadevappa Mahesh, MS, PhD
Exploring the Future of Learning and Online Education with Peggy Semingson, PhD
Interested in hearing the full conversations from any of these episodes? Click on the links above to explore each episode in-depth.
Learn About Today’s Speakers
Sapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD, serves as Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She also serves as Associate Vice Chair for Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.
You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SapnaKmd
Peggy Semingson, PhD, currently serves as Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. With a background in educational technology, online course development, adult education, curriculum development, and online course design, she is on the cutting edge of YouTube and online learning.
You can follow her on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/user/peggysemingson
Mahadevappa Mahesh, MS, PhD, serves as Professor in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, and Chair of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Faculty Senate in Baltimore.
You can follow Dr. Mahesh on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/mmahesh1
The Faculty Factory
More from the Faculty Factory: https://facultyfactory.org/
Visit us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/faculty_factory

Dec 23, 2022 • 15min
Best of the Faculty Factory: Difficult Conversations, Part 2 | Episode 205
Dive into the art of handling tough conversations in academic settings. Discover strategies for navigating performance evaluations and underperformance issues with honesty and early intervention. Learn how to maintain purpose during career transitions and manage requests in academia without feeling overwhelmed. Explore the emotional dynamics of challenging discussions, utilizing 'I' language and reflective listening to foster understanding. These insights are valuable for anyone facing difficult dialogues in any workplace.

Dec 16, 2022 • 19min
Best of the Faculty Factory: Discussions on Mentorship, Part 3 | Episode 204
Today’s episode of the Faculty Factory is a “Best of” show that includes highlights from past interviews of our show about navigating mentorships. Last year around this time of year we released the first two parts in this three part series, and you can catch up on them here:
Best of the Faculty Factory Discussions on Mentorship, Part I
Best of the Faculty Factory Discussions on Mentorship, Part II
Today’s “Best of” show includes highlights from the following episodes:
How Faculty Can Better Develop Their Mentoring Network with Clara L. Lapiner, MPH
Questions to Ask Your Mentor with Wendy Ward, PhD, ABPP, FAPA
10 Mentee Rules for Faculty with Dave Yousem, MD, MBA
Meaningful Mentorship with Cynthia S. Rand, PhD
Be a Memorable Mentor with Donna Vogel, PhD
More about the Faculty Factory: https://facultyfactory.org/