Faculty Orientation and Development

Department of Pharmacy & Clinical Sciences

I.Getting Started

A. New Employee Orientation & Benefits Orientation

The Department of Human Resources Management provides a New Employee Orientation and a Benefits Orientation. The briefings are held in Harborview Office Tower, Room 803. Check the benefits orientation schedule for the complete calendar at New employees will cover insurance plans (health, dental, disability, life plans), retirement, and other benefits.

For administrative sign up, employee needs to bring ID and Social Security Card (or passport for international employees).

University Department of Human Resources (

Harborview Tower

19 Hagood Ave.

Charleston, SC 29425

843- 792-2121

For any inquiries prior to your orientation date, please call (843) 792-2825.

B. Parking (

Faculty and staff parking is assigned on a space-available basis with both longevity of employment and office location considered. To arrange parking, visit theOffice of Parking Management,located at 91 President Street, 2nd floor, 8:00-5:00 pm M-F. Phone 843-792-3665. Applicant will need vehicle registration, and a copy of the signed appointment letter. Parking fees may be paid as a monthly payroll deduction, if desired. It is possible to arrange for parking before orientation.

C. Identification Badge/Access

Upon completion of orientation, new MUSC employees will be sent by Human Resources to Public Safety at 101 Doughty Street, or room 607H Harborview to obtain their ID badge. Badges are necessary to gain access to many campus buildings (including the library) and specific areas within the hospital. ID badges should be worn at all times when on campus.

Phone 843-792-4023.

D.MUSC Network Account (NetID)

A MUSC Network Account (NetID) is the key to online access for many applications on campus, both academic and clinical. It is your login for IMAP E-mail, Human Resources MyRecords, Homeroom, Enrollment Management's WebAdvisor, PPP, VPN, SunOne Calendar, downloading software, FTP, maintaining web sites, and many other resources. This universal account is used for many "Authorization Required" web pages, as well as connecting to campus and various applications from home. The users of these accounts must adhere to the Computer Use Policy (please read this policy before registering for an account -

You do not "apply" for a network account. As part of an established registration process, such as the hiring process, a "registration authority" will enter your information into the Identity Management system. (If you were not told where to pick up your initial account information, please contact your registration authority.) If you do not activate your NetID by electronically signing the Security and Confidentiality Agreement within 60 days of account creation it will be disabled. For full information regarding NetID see

E. OSHA and HIPAA Training

OSHA and HIPAA training are required for all employees and can be completed online before the new employee is assigned an MNA account.

OSHA Training is required by law. To access the online training module, go to the MUSC OSHA Online Training at For any questions related to the training, call (843) 296-4639 and an OSHA-competent employee will answer your questions.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Online Training This federal law mandates a standard for privacy and security of protected health information as well as the standardizing of some of the electronic transactions within the health care industry. HIPAA training is provided on-line. See General HIPAA Training at

F. Medical University Hospital Authority (MUHA)

Faculty with clinical practices at MUH or its affiliates must be compliant with all policies, training, and certification of any pharmacy practitioner in that institution. In addition to required OSHA and HIPAA training (see above), faculty practitioners must complete other requirements/certifications as per the Department of Pharmacy Services. Much of this is completed with the annual completion of the online training program CATTS, and each faculty member will become aware of required training modules when registered for and logged onto this online program. In addition, practitioner faculty are required to complete an annual TB test which is normally applied/administered by Employee Health (57 Bee Street, telephone: 792-2991).

G.Important Dates/Timed Events to be Aware Of.

Intent to be considered for award of tenure: formally notify the department chair by February 1. Supporting information to department chair by March 1.

Three year formal reviews: supporting materials to College APT Committee by February 15.

Annual faculty contracts: required completion date of June 15. You will be asked to supply your annual report/self-evaluation/planning document and other supporting materials by May 15.

Intent to be considered for promotion: formally notify department chair by September 15. Supporting information to department chair October 15.

II.Important Policies and Procedures

A.Faculty Handbook(

All rules and regulations that govern faculty affairs are set forth in the Faculty Handbook which functions as part of the contract with the faculty member. Each faculty member is expected to be knowledgeable about the areas covered in the

Handbook. A number of especially important policies are:

1.Faculty Organization and Governance (Section 3)

2.Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Guidelines (Section 6)

3.Faculty Grievance and Appeal Procedures (Section 8)

4.Protection of Academic Freedom (Section 9.01)

B. The Faculty Senate (

The Faculty Senate acts as the sole representative body for organizing and executing that

business of the faculty submitted to it by members of the faculty, the administration, or the

Senate itself. The Senate also advises the administration and the faculty in matters pertaining to the faculty. The Faculty Senate is organized and governed according to the Faculty Senate Constitution and By-Laws located in Appendix 3.02 of the Faculty Handbook.

Each College is represented in the Senate by its elected representatives. The number of representatives is determined by the size of the faculty at each college. Representatives are elected by their peers and serve a two-year term.

C.Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure (APT) Guidelines

While the University has general guidelines (see Faculty Handbook), each College has its own specific guidelines which, although more detailed, are in concert with the University’s guidelines. The College of Pharmacy APT guidelines can be viewed or downloaded at (

D.Annual Contracts

MUSC faculty work under one-year employment contracts. Contracts are renewed each June and go into effect on July 1. Contracts not only contain general faculty duties and level of compensation, but also incorporate specific performance objectives for the coming year.

E.Annual Performance Evaluations

The State of South Carolina requires that all state universities and colleges evaluate faculty performance. In order to comply with this requirement, MUSC has developed a faculty evaluation procedure which has been approved by the Division of Human Resources of the State Budget and Control Board. Each college of the University has an approved Performance Appraisal form ( The form is completed annually for each faculty member and kept in a permanent file under the purview of the dean or director. This form provides forperformance evaluation of the following areas: teaching, research/scholarship, patient care, institutional activity, and professional growth. In completing this process, the faculty member is asked to assess their accomplishments based upon the goals established at the beginning of the academic year.

At the end of the academic year, each faculty member completes and submits a form outlining his or her goals for the coming year for review by the respective Department Chair/Associate Dean for Faculty in each College ( In addition, the faculty member completes a self evaluation (see Performance Appraisal form, above) which is submitted to the Chair. At an annual meeting of the faculty member and their Chair, these documents are reviewed and the supervisor’s evaluation of the faculty member’s performance is discussed. The annual evaluation form is signed by both the faculty member and the Chair acknowledging its content. Copies are filed with the Dean’s Office. The faculty evaluation process is linked to the annual contract renewal process for all faculty members. That is, goals for the upcoming year, as agreed to by the faculty member and their immediate supervisor, are incorporated into the annual contract.

III.Other SCCP/MUSC Campus Opportunities for Faculty Development

A.Teaching

1. Edweb (

This is the Library's central point of access, or "portal," for Web-based educational resources used at the Medical University of South Carolina. This includes web sites created for use in their courses by MUSC faculty, as well as commercially available web-based educational resources that are purchased for use in the curriculum. Edweb may also include useful resources available free on the Internet.

2. Apple Tree Society (

This Society exists to foster dialogue and activity related to the scholarship of health professions teaching through campus and national partnerships.

The following are the goals of the Society:

  • Expand the faculty development opportunities related to teaching on campus.
  • Initiate programs that recognize and enhance the value of teaching as a scholarly activity.
  • Explore and support innovative methods and technologies for teaching and learning.
  • Promote professional development of current and future educators.

Activities of the Society include:

  • Annual conferences such as the Third Annual Charleston Connections Conference: Innovations in Higher Education in May 2003
  • Monthly Brown Bags – noontime sessions on topics related to the scholarship of teaching
  • Workshops focused on development of teaching skills including lecture and presentation skills, case based discussions, evaluating learners, and using technology such as WebCT (see below)
  • Collegiality – informal meetings to discuss teaching and learning

3. WebCT

Through the office of the Associate Provost for Education and Student Life, support has been provided over the past several years to increase faculty participation in the utilization of WebCT, a course management system. A series of training courses were developed to educate the faculty on the use of this system to enhance their teaching as well as the learning of students. This has become an obvious need and has generated great interest among the faculty. During the spring of 2004, an “Introduction to WebCT 4.1” 4-week training course was offered to faculty. In addition, individual 2-hour courses on basic Photoshop Elements, Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat and Dreamweaver were offered during the spring and summer of 2004. Staff training has also been included to relieve faculty of certain daily low-level management activities of their courses through WebCT. These training courses are repeated regularly for faculty training.

Support for the use of WebCT includes:

  • Monthly on-line forums
  • List-serves
  • Apple Tree Society sponsored forums and workshops
  • Library space for a faculty development room with computers and software to directly support WebCT based activities

4. Peer Review of Teaching Process

The faculty of the Department of Pharmacy and Clinical Sciences has developed a peer evaluation of teaching system which has been implemented. (rating sheet: ; process: While the primary purpose of this initiative is to improve teaching performance, the outcomes are also assessed by the department chair in annual performance evaluations. The intent is that each faculty member will evaluate and be evaluated by colleagues within the department every year to enhance teaching and document achievements.

B.Scholarship

The University has available several resources for faculty to develop research skills. The Office of Research Development offers a grant writing workshop four times a year ( This office also assists faculty in identifying potential sources of external funding and works closely with faculty in preparing grant proposals for submission. The Department of Biometry and Epidemiology offers a program leading to the MS degree in Clinical Research, one component of which is a course in Grant Development ( College of Graduate Studies also provides funding for a visiting speaker program that exposes university faculty to scientists of national reputation with cutting edge research programs. Faculty members have the opportunity to meet with these speakers depending on availability and time.

Three Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) have been established at MUSC. These centers are focused on studying cardiovascular disease, oral health, and lipodomics and pathobiology. The goal of the COBRE grants is to mentor new or early career investigators towards successfully competing for their first NIH R01 award.

C.The University Environment

One of the advantages of a career in academia is that we have a work environment that is conducive to professional growth. Not only are programs available that are designed to foster faculty growth and success, a mentioned above, but other activities abound which also provide for intellectual stimulation and professional enrichment. Examples include the numerous seminars, grand rounds discussion and research presentations all of which may be presented/led by internal and external experts. A number of Colleges/Departments have regularly schedule seminar programs and grand round series which are designed as forums for discussion of advances in health sciences research and applications. Our faculty are encouraged to take advantage of the wealth of such opportunities.

D.Miscellaneous

As part of the faculty development initiative at MUSC, the Faculty Handbook ( provides sufficient detail on the opportunities for faculty to: a) take sabbatical leaves, b) pursue a terminal degree in their area (if not obtained previously and is offered at MUSC), c) obtain a degree in another area (if offered at MUSC), and d) request travel and tuition assistance.

Certain professional associations also provide numerous resources for faculty development. Of particular interest are the American Association of College of Pharmacy (AACP; and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP;

IV.Resources (Support and Information)

A.The MUSC Intranet

The MUSC homepage ( is your portal to many rich information sources. In addition to its many links to the colleges, the hospital and the library, it provides search engines to search the MUSC intranet as well as the world wide web. The site also allows individual faculty to create a customized MUSC homepage in which you can build your frequently used hyperlinks and many other features. The RESEARCH link on the MUSC home page provides further links to important research offices (including the Institutional Review Board) and policies. From these sites, faculty can download IRB submission forms as well as standard PHS grant submission forms.

B. Technical Support

Office of the CIO, Information Services (

Information Services is the department at MUSC responsible for centralized management and oversight of MUSC's computing network, resources,and applications. Information Services provides on campus and remote computing services for MUSC and its affiliates and manages the campus telecommunications network. Information Services is directed by the Office of the CIO. From this website, faculty and staff can access a wide variety of resources and information related to on- and off-campus computing including software downloads (see below).

Software

Basic software (e.g., Microsoft Office, Windows and Apple operating systems) is supplied and supported by College of Pharmacy IT personnel. Work with you administrative assistant to assure you have the latest versions on your desktop/laptop computer.

Some software (e.g., antivirus software, email clients, Acrobat Pro, VPN etc) is available through the OCIO (formerly CCIT) website (

The reference desk in the library also has software (EndNote and SPSS) that can be checked out and loaded on your computer.

B. Library resources (

The MUSC Library serves as an information-rich database and knowledge center, academic computing support unit, electronic education center, and leader in information planning. A service-oriented faculty and staff assist in the use of a variety of informational systems. An active program of individual, class and group instruction supports teaching, clinical care, research and community outreach.

Access to both the physical facility and the electronic resources of the library is continuous – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Located in the heart of MUSC campus, the library offers a convenient place for users to work and study. Three floors offer open carrels, large group study tables, and multiple seating areas [29,000 sf]; public support areas such as reference, circulation and resources management comprise 3,900 square feet of space. A dozen group study rooms [2,200 sf] are available. (link 15) Lockers for student use are provided. Printing stations and photocopiers are located throughout the building. Wireless access for use of personal laptop computers is available throughout. Computer labs and classrooms plus open computer workstation areas comprise 9,000 square feet of space.

The library’s webpage ( is organized in such a way that students, faculty, students and staff can access resources from a variety of different viewpoints. For example, users can look for resources by type of material– databases, eBooks, and eJournals, etc. Selected Internet Resources by Subject allows users to search for all materials by subject. The library has also organized resources by special interests. These include Evidence Based Medicine Resources, Clinical Resources, Drug Information, Consumer Health Resources, Bioterrorism, etc.

All new faculty, as well as local campus students are offered a library orientation. This includes a physical tour of the library, an overview of online library resources, e-mail and access to the online homeroom service. In addition, an orientation to library resources is provided for distance education students when they visit campus. Instruction in use of the library’s facilities and services is available in a variety of ways. Students, faculty and staff can obtain instruction, training and assistance in person at service points throughout the library. The library offers tours, orientations, course related instruction, an information management series of bibliographic instruction, and various programs on special topics for specific groups. Individual instruction and consultation by appointment is also available.