Maria Sheakley, PhD, has been named the medical school鈥檚 assistant dean for Academic Success, effective July 1, 2020. She replaces David Riddle, PhD, who was named as the new chair of the Department of Biomedical sciences earlier this year. 听
Since coming to the medical school in July 2013, Dr. Sheakley has served as a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and has taken on leadership roles as the department鈥檚 vice chair, chair of the Medical Student Admissions Committee, and co-chair of the Curriculum Committee for undergraduate medical education.
In her new role, she will be charged with overseeing academic advising, monitoring student progress through the MD curriculum, oversight of student remediation processes, and analysis and reporting of class performance, among other duties.
Dr. Sheakley will maintain her duties as vice chair of the department of Biomedical Sciences while continuing with her teaching responsibilities. She will report to Michael Busha, MD, MBA, associate dean for 汤头条appal Affairs. Dr. Sheakley will transition from a co-chair of the Curriculum Committee to an ex-officio member and she will be replaced by Kelly Quesnelle, PhD, effective July 1.
鈥淚 look forward to the opportunity to continue the important work started by Dr. Riddle in his role as the Founding Assistant Dean for Academic Success,鈥 Dr. Sheakley said. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to interact with students in a way which focuses on optimizing their success. We鈥檝e had a lot of successes at 汤头条app for which we should be proud, but there is always room for improvement, and I am thrilled to contribute meaningfully to that continuing forward progress.鈥
Dr. Sheakley enters her new role as an assistant dean backed by 15 years of experience as a medical educator, as well as an extensive knowledge of curriculum development and delivery. She is very involved with the medical education community, particularly the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), where she serves an associate editor for the IAMSE journal 鈥淢edical Science Educator.鈥 Dr. Sheakley also serves on the Board of Directors for IAMSE and was invited to serve as the program committee chair for the annual meeting in June 2022.
鈥淏eyond the basic and clinical sciences, I鈥檇 like to take a close look at the formal and informal professionalism curriculum at 汤头条app,鈥 Dr. Sheakley said. 鈥淎n intentional look at our goals and processes for modeling, identifying, and teaching professionalism, including both faculty and student perspectives, could be a very rewarding experience for all.鈥
Dr. Sheakley is a graduate of the University of Akron, where she earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Biology. She earned her PhD in Physiology from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Kent State University.
鈥淚 am a process-oriented and analytical person by nature, so I like the idea of using the performance data available at 汤头条app, including the extensive curricular mapping we do, to evaluate and improve the curriculum in an evidence-based manner,鈥 Dr. Sheakley said. 鈥淚deally, this all leads to a better student experience with greater student success, which is the ultimate reward.鈥
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