The outreach programs, initiated in 1994 under the PIMS to develop a qualified
applicant pool of students from medically underserved populations, have been
expanded to include
• middle- and high-school components focusing on basic skills and
enhancement of test-taking skills (Science Students Together Reaching
Instructional Diversity and Excellence, SSTRIDE for short);
• an in-college academic support program open to all prehealth professions
students at FSU and Florida
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, the historically black
university located in Tallahassee;
• a postbacculaureate program that serves as a bridge between undergraduate
college and medical school and gives applicants from target populations
additional preparation for academic success in medical school; and
• three rural SSTRIDE programs in North Florida panhandle counties.
In the short history of the medical school, 35 of the 254 medical students
admitted to the college of medicine participated in some component of these
outreach programs. The college was cited for its success in recruiting African
Americans by the Southern Regional Education Board in 2003 and hopes to use
rural outreach activities to enhance the number of applications from rural students
in years to come.
STUDENT LEARNING COMMUNITIES
The Florida law directed that Florida State’s medical students learn the practice
of medicine in a humane environment. Building on the student-centered
culture that developed during the PIMS years, the college of medicine has committed
substantial resources to facilities and staff to create a cooperative learning
environment. One of the key architectural features of the new college’s education/administration
building is the design of the student learning communities.
Eight of these communities, four each for years 1 and 2, occupy prime
space in the new building. Each community is designed to be the work and
study home to 30 medical students and contains a central lounge with galley,
bathrooms and shower, lockers for each student, and four rooms equipped for
small-group instruction and study. The community is available to students 24
hours a day, seven days a week, for group or independent study. These communities,
as well as the rest of the college facilities in Tallahassee and elsewhere,
feature wireless access to the Internet. Each student community, a cross section
of the entire class, is responsible for organizing itself and is supported by a student
affairs support coordinator who acts as a liaison between students and the
education program, and by student support services. The values of the student
community include mutual respect and a team approach to learning. Students
in the learning communities of the college of medicine, like the PIMS students
before them, evolve into real communities that study, learn, and play together.
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