After serving as the Program Director for PA Studies since 2014, Judy Ortiz, PhD, PA-C, has been named Marshall B. Ketchum University’s Vice President for Educational Effectiveness and Institutional Research. She recently sat down with Ketchum Magazine for a conversation about what she’ll bring to the University in her new role.
Q: Talk a little bit about how your background has prepared you for this new position at MBKU.
A: First and foremost, I am a Physician Assistant. I practiced in underserved medicine and family practice for number of years but knew I always wanted to become an educator, so I was a professor at a PA program in Oregon for more than 16 years. As a professor, I was on all the committees – the tenure and promotion committee, the curriculum standards committee, the governance committee – and I learned how a university operates and how to interact within the university. Next, I was fortunate to become Director of the School of PA Studies at MBKU, and learned a lot about leadership, accreditation and program development. I earned my PhD in higher education leadership, and that also prepared me for my current role.
Why did you always want to be an educator?
It energizes me to help students succeed. To help them put all the pieces together and provide excellent care for patients, to serve students to help them go out and care for others. That's always been motivating me. Of course, I don’t work with students as much anymore, but I like to do the same thing for faculty. It brings me great joy to support them to become better teachers.
What do you like about working at Ketchum?
We have a supportive President who is visionary and innovative, and the Board of Trustees are very supportive. Interprofessional education and collaborative practice is one of the cornerstones of the University. Very few institutions have a teaching center like Ketchum Health to give students an opportunity to practice interprofessional collaboration. Our upper administration has a shared vision of our future and we have been given the tools to implement that vision. We're also a small, selective University, and we can adapt to and grow to support the high-quality students we want to attract. I love being innovative and creative and I can do that here. At Ketchum, I believe I am only limited by my imagination.
What are some of your duties in your new role as Vice President of Educational Effectiveness and Institutional Research?
We are a young University, so we needed someone who could provide high-level oversight and leadership for academic matters, such as faculty development, program review, accreditation and strategic planning. I also provide a bridge between the colleges and school for our process of continuous improvement.
You have a lot of experience as a faculty member. How does that help you as an administrator?
As a professor, I have been through the tenure and promotion process, so I have an appreciation for what it takes and what the commitment is as a faculty member. Faculty members need time to be creative and innovative, and they need our support as they develop into professors. I know from my own experience that faculty members can have missteps during the process of learning to be a professor. I’m relatable because I’ve learned a lot through trial and error as a faculty member. I encourage faculty members to take a risk and be inventive in their teaching, and sometimes the lectures don’t go as planned. I think life’s all about learning from your successes and failures.
Higher education is facing many challenges these days. How do you foresee these challenges applying to MBKU?
I have an opportunity to see what the best practices and the latest trends are in higher education, and to explore how MBKU and the faculty can engage in them. What I appreciate about our President is that growing the University is a very thoughtful process. How will our programs contribute through interprofessional education and collaborative practice within and outside the University? We’re intentional in building connections between the programs, being patient-centered in our health care centers, and learning-centered in our classrooms. As we build the University, we are always asking, how will this benefit our students and our patients?
What are you most excited about in your new role?
I am helping to further develop a new University. We’re putting into place a lot of processes that we didn’t have before, so that’s really fun for me. I love to be innovative and creative, and to explore all the possibilities for students and faculty. I’m excited to be the bridge between the different colleges and schools. And I think students come first in everything that we do. Therefore, everything I do should support faculty and staff so that we can prepare our students to be successful.
The full Spring 2019 issue is available online. Read Now