Best Practice Strategies for Retaining Faculty During Times of Rapid Change

Abstract

Faculty retention is an issue of concern to schools and colleges of pharmacy. The reasons why faculty leave are multifactorial but often involve a breach of unwritten contract obligations between the faculty member and the organization. This article provides strategies for retaining faculty based on published literature that include perceived breaches of unwritten contracts and our own perspectives as departmental and university administrators and senior faculty members who have been involved in devising and implementing institutional change. Retention begins with recruitment but then needs to be nurtured during onboarding and as part of the overall enculturation process for new faculty members. Particular attention to the factors that influence the retention of underrepresented minorities must be incorporated to help ensure that pharmacy educators reflect the diversity of the US population.