Professionals Engaging with Purpose Program (PEPP)
Our Model: Trees in a Forest
Like trees, we are each unique and choose to branch off on different career paths, that further divide into different areas of interest. Collectively we form a forest that rooted in the soil of our culture, through which we can support each other’s professional development just as real trees transfer water and nutrients through a mycorrhizal (fungal) network in the ground.
A PEPP Primer
Put some PEPP in your step in 2025 by sampling some of the PEPP offerings! Our Department of Pediatrics faculty development program is here to support your efforts to craft a career constructed on a foundation of meaningful work. We recommend starting with reflective career planning in Steps 1 and 2:
Steps
- The Foundation – Find, revise or reaffirm your calling through the Affirmation of Professional Calling (APC) workshop (Jan 21/25)
- The Path – Use your calling to plan your way forward with the Professional Development Plan (PDP) workshop (Feb 24/25)
- The Building Blocks - Select the core and career path specific curriculum you need to move forward towards your goals.
- The Support – Find a mentor through the self-matching mentor tool (coming soon) or connect to a coach through the PEPP website. Join our Mentoring Academy by taking the Building Mentoring Relationships workshop (Mar 18/25).
This is your program. The PEPP model emerged from our 2021 needs assessment.
Reflective Career Planning
Both workshops lend themselves well to retreats for Sections or other groups. A novel, reflective 2-step process has been created through which you can first identify the work which is most meaningful to you. This knowledge is used to clarify your career goals and engage in role crafting by creating an individualized career development plan.
Curriculum
The DoP has an evolving core curriculum that will be offered on a rotational basis, and source out specific career path curriculum that faculty members can explore through the links provided below. Explore your area(s) of interest below:
Core Curriculum
An annual offering of core topics is held monthly, alternating between Mondays and Tuesdays.
2025 topics above.
Career Path Curriculum
Career Development Support
Career cultivation over the professional lifespan is supported by mentoring, coaching, sponsorship, personal support, and more. We envision this as a career support community in which faculty both support others and are supported themselves at all career stages. PEPP will help you build the skills to mentor others, provide the tools to do it more effectively, and find the career support you need to move your development plan forward. Explore what we have to offer:
About Us - Our Team
Our Model
The model for the PEPP program emerged from the analysis of results from a faculty development needs assessment conducted in 2021. We acknowledge the importance of our cultural ecosystem and endeavor to embed principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) in all aspects of our program. We seek to maximize individual vitality by identifying work that is meaningful to us (the heartwood at the core of the tree), building an individualized career plan (branches) and nurtured with a mind-set of self-compassion.
Career support is multifaceted, with 8 key components identified including alignment of self and organization, resources for development, opportunities and incentives for professional growth, recognition for contributions made, access to mentorship and coaching, and cultivation of peer relationships. The interconnected nature of these career supports, in which colleagues are both supported and provide support to others, forms a network analogous to the mycorrhizal network in the forest floors. This development process is continuous across the professional lifespan, as well as a challenging to balance as we navigate through a landscape of competing demands.
Career Development Support owl, pika, eagle, and bear photo credit: D Rathnow
The Story photo credit: Susan Kuhn