Some undergraduates in the Program in Liberal Medical Education have voiced concern that recent changes in the medical advising structure will negatively affect a system that has given students the opportunity to form relationships with their advisers that begin in college and stretch until the third year of medical school.
Last fall, Alpert Medical School made its advising system for medical students more specialized. Previously, four deans were responsible for advising all PLME and medical students. Now, med students receive advising in three more specialized branches - personal counseling, career counseling and academic advising. But the change also affects undergraduate PLMEs.
Because the four advising deans became responsible for only undergrad PLMEs, two of the four deans began, in February, devoting fewer overall hours to advising. The other two deans' hours did not change.
Because they no longer advise medical students, the two deans whose hours were cut - Assistant Dean of Medicine Anne Cushing-Brescia and Assistant Dean of Medicine Timothy Empkie - can still devote the same number of hours for each advisee, said Associate Dean of Medicine Philip Gruppuso. He added that while the nature of med student advising has changed, the nature of undergraduate PLME advising has not.
Cushing-Brescia and Empkie are now being paid less because their compensation is proportional to the number of advisees they handle, Gruppuso said. This freed up resources to implement the changes in the medical school advising system, he said.
Empkie, who used to have four half-days available to students, said he now has two. To accommodate his own schedule, Empkie said, he has scheduled these hours so that he works one full day a week.
"We're trying to make that work," Empkie said. "It does make for a scheduling challenge."
Associate Dean of Medicine Julianne Ip '75 MD'78 said that, in addition to the scheduling changes, the reformed medical school advising system, which sends advisees to three separate branches that each serve specific needs, effectively ends the six-year continuous advising system that has been part of the PLME experience.
"Those of us who were advising medical students miss that," Ip said. "I'm still accessible to medical students, if they seek me out."
Geolani Dy '08, PLME Senate co-president, said the new system makes it harder to meet with advisers because their new office hours make them less accessible.
Zachary Marcus '10 said when he applied to PLME, he was told he would have the same adviser for six years. While he said he recognizes the importance of separating the undergraduate and medical school years, he liked that the advising system formed a bridge between the two.
Dy said the old system, which allowed PLME students to keep their undergraduate adviser for the first two years of medical school, helped them think of their education as a "continuum" instead of four undergraduate years distinct from four years of medical school.
She liked the idea of having an adviser who knows her well, she said, and who could guide her through making important decisions in medical school.
But, she added, "I think the new advising system they've put in place for med school students seems pretty strong, and it sounds like it'll cater to med school students' needs well."
Sarah Swanson '11 said she thinks the changes will improve the advising system by allowing undergraduate PLME advisers to focus more on the undergraduate experience and allowing medical school advisers to focus on medical students' needs.
But Minjy Kang '11 said "it's a shame" that the advising structure changed, adding that she would have liked to have had a medical school adviser with whom she had built up such a long relationship.
Kang, whose adviser is Cushing-Brescia, said she has not had a problem yet with her adviser's accessibility.
"Whenever I've e-mailed her, she's been responsive, and I think she's made an effort to make sure that (the reduced schedule) hasn't affected the relationship that she has with her advisees."
Still, Dy said, "PLME undergrads are disappointed that they weren't informed earlier and that we didn't have much input into the changes."
Dissatisfied with the effect of the new med school advising system on PLME advising, five students sent a letter on Feb. 11 to President Ruth Simmons, urging her to appoint a dean of medicine and biological sciences who will attend to concerns about PLME advising.
"Recent, significant reductions in weekly availability of advisors, in addition to the shortening of the duration of the advising partnership, have profoundly altered the ethos of the program," wrote Marcus, Claire Williams '10, Jenna Kahn '08, Lawren Wellisch '08 and Ruhan Nagra '10.
"Specifically, we would like to stress the importance of seeking a Dean that believes that exceptional advising, which provides continuity through the eight-year Brown experience, is of paramount importance," they wrote.
Marcus said an assistant provost told him the letter was forwarded to the committee selecting the new dean, which had no student members.
Last week, when Edward Wing was appointed the next dean, Marcus wasn't sure what to think.
"I'm not satisfied or dissatisfied," he said. "I know nothing about the new dean."
But, he added, he is unhappy there were no undergraduates on the selection committee.
Dy agreed, saying the PLME Senate hasn't "collectively discussed how we feel about the appointment of Wing yet." She added that "one concern was that we wanted to be part of the decision-making processes."
