NORMAN – Valerie N. Williams, vice provost for academic affairs and faculty development at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 Carole J. Bland Phronesis Award from the Association of American Medical College’s Group on Faculty Affairs. Williams received the award at the group’s professional development conference recently in Boston.
According to the group, “Williams, whose excellence as an innovator, a nurturer/mentor, a leader and an educator/academician, as well as her regional and national impact in the areas of faculty affairs and faculty development, exemplifies the criteria established for the award.”
The association’s Group on Faculty Affairs builds and sustains faculty vitality in medical schools and teaching hospitals by supporting faculty affairs deans and administrators in their development and implementation of institutional policies and professional development activities. The Carole J. Bland Phronesis Award serves to honor members of the faculty affairs community who exemplify the spirit of phronesis – acting for the welfare of others without thought for the self; seeking and enabling heroically the development and success of others – through dedicated and selfless promotion of faculty vitality.
Since coming to the OU Health Sciences Center in 1989, Williams has served in a variety of faculty development and leadership posts, including as associate dean for faculty affairs in the OU College of Medicine and interim associate dean for academic programs in the OU College of Nursing. In her current capacity, Williams sponsors and guides faculty development and teaches in the OU Health Sciences Center’s interprofessional faculty development program which includes faculty from each of the OU health professions colleges and the graduate college. She also has remained active as a principal investigator, and during the past 10 years has served as private investigator or sponsor for more than $18 million in competitively awarded grants and contracts.
Williams served as chair of the Association of American Medical College’s board of directors in 2013. The association serves and leads the academic medicine community to improve the health of all, and represents all 141 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 90 academic and scientific societies.
