Presented By: Nancy Moreno, Baylor College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Tyson Pillow, Baylor College of Medicine

Purpose
Educator roles are changing to support learner-centered teaching, technology integration, and inclusive learning environments. In response, institutions are reimagining ways to support educator career pathways, share best practices, foster collaborations, and support educational research and scholarship. At the authors' home institution, a new department focused on education, innovation, and technology was launched--with a broadly inclusive faculty consisting of clinician educators, science educators, educational technologists and designers, and educational researchers. 

Methods 
Initiated in 2021, the Department of Education, Innovation and Technology (EIT) offers an academic home for educators and is building an environment conducive to collaboration and novel approaches. Inaugural faculty were recruited from across the health sciences university and selected by peer review following a holistic review process. The holistic review process included development of a rubric of competencies, attributes and experiences, and scholarly and educational contributions (metrics). 

Results 
Twenty-five faculty members were selected and appointed as an inaugural cohort. This group worked as a team to design and subsequently deliver a novel educator certificate course on an ongoing basis. Community building activities include: peer mentoring circles; faculty writing group; new infrastructure for innovative teaching (self-service video studio and interactive teaching lab); launch of Center for Teaching and eLearning; funding of 10 grants for collaborative faculty research; and an institution-wide education hackathon. In its first year, EIT faculty published more than 65 education-related papers. EIT now has more than 75 faculty members (including 38 primary appointees). Initial focus areas of faculty activities include: science of teaching and learning, curriculum design and assessment, technology applications, and educational research. 

Conclusion 
Creating an academic department focused on teaching and learning offers a new environment for collaboration and recognition of educator contributions. Recruiting educators from diverse disciplines broadens perspectives and contributes to knowledge sharing. The building process requires attending to development of programs, people and structures.