Community Educators

Community Health Care Partners and Affiliations

The Mission of the Central Michigan University College of Medicine is to educate diverse students and train culturally competent physicians to provide comprehensive health care and services to underserved populations in Michigan and beyond. Our faculty, staff and graduates advance health and wellness through exceptional education, innovative research, quality patient care and strategic collaborations to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

To accomplish this mission, a new model of distributed community-engaged medical education has been developed by the College of Medicine. This model relies heavily on community partners in hospitals and physician practices. The hospital partnerships known as Clinical Affiliate Sites are asked to sign the AAMC Uniform Clinical Training Affiliation Agreement, which is critically important because it provides the guidelines for medical students functioning in these locations.

The existence of these partnership agreements allows medical students to:

  1. Be educated and trained in the environments in which we intend for our graduates to practice.
  2. Experience high-quality medical practice where initial medical diagnoses most often occur.
  3. Understand the impact of health care decisions on patients' families and communities.
  4. Experience high-quality inter-professional patient care.
  5. Appreciate the quality of life in the communities they serve.

The College of Medicine has Affiliation Agreements for hospitals and practices from Saginaw to Midland to Mount Pleasant; from Toledo to Houghton-Hancock and many locations in between. These community partners provide an essential context for the education and training for a new College of medicine physician.

There are many benefits to being a community educator and preceptor!

Benefits include:

  1. Added value to the physician's practice.
  2. Access to continuing medical education.
  3. Availability of faculty development resources.
  4. Potential for collaboration with College of Medicine faculty and initiatives.
  5. Access to CMU's library.

Benefits for Community Educator Faculty

  • Continuing Medical Education (CME) – CME credit is available for community educators who teach students. The College also offers a range of live CME events and online courses with many options provided at no cost for community educator faculty.
  • Computer access, storage and software – With a CMU Global ID, faculty are provided access to Microsoft Office 365 for email, 1 terabyte of OneDrive file storage and Office Online. A CMU Global ID also enables access to a vast online library collection, covering the medical disciplines and other collections provided through the University library.
  • Faculty development – The College offers many regular events to deliver faculty development programming. Physicians can claim CME credit for participating in faculty development activities.
  • Faculty awards and recognition – The College hosts an annual faculty recognition event where selected faculty and community educators receive excellence awards for teaching or research. Awards are based on nominations from faculty peers and students.
  • Library services – Community educators gain access various library services during their term of appointment.
  • No- or low-cost certification courses – Community educators are offered free Basic Life Saving (BLS) certification at no cost, and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) certification/recertification and other courses at a reduced faculty rate.
  • Campus discounts – Community educators receive discounts on CMU athletic season tickets and fitness memberships at the Student Activity Center.

Resources for Community Educator Faculty

Clinical teaching