Dental School Vacant Budgeted Faculty Positions, Academic Years 2005–06 and 2006–07

Abstract

The annual turnover of dental school faculty creates a varying number of vacant budgeted positions at any given time. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) conducts an annual survey to determine the status and characteristics of these vacant faculty positions. In addition, ADEA conducts an annual survey of dental educators to maintain a database on the size and characteristics of dental school faculty, including data on the distribution of full-time, part-time, and volunteer faculty, reasons for faculty separations, and sources of new faculty. The number of vacant budgeted faculty positions within U.S. dental schools increased throughout the 1990s, with a peak of 358 positions in 2000. Following this peak, the number of vacancies declined, falling to 275 in 2004-05. Since that time, there has been a rapid increase in the number of estimated vacancies, reaching 417 in 2005-06, then falling slightly to 406 in 2006-07. The 2005-06 and 2006-07 faculty vacancies surveys explore these increases, along with information relevant to trends in the faculty workforce, factors influencing faculty vacancies, and the impact of vacant positions on dental schools.