title: Rethinking tenure in dental education.
abstract: In the midst of changes in the environment of academic dentistry over the past two decades, reform of traditional tenure is one way for dental schools to respond to these changes while maintaining scholarly, evidence-based learning environments. Challenges facing academic dentistry today and in the future include a crisis in workforce capacity, difficulty attracting recent graduates into academic positions, overburdened faculty members with limited time for scholarly activity, loss of tenured faculty members due to retirement, and a potentially diminished voice for dental schools within the parent university. The purpose of this opinion article is to suggest ways to reform the current tenure system in dental education as a means of improving recruitment and retention of new faculty members while maintaining or increasing scholarly activity within dental schools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Iowa College of Dentistry, Iowa City, IA 52242-1001, USA. rebecca-slayton@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Slayton
authors.forename: Parag R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kachalia
authors.forename: Juanita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lozano-Pineda
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Rolf
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Kovarik
authors.forename: Joycelyn A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dillon
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel; D002017:Budgets; D018865:Dental Research / Q000193:education; D004497:Education, Dental; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D055094:Evidence-Based Dentistry / Q000193:education; D005179:Faculty, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007858:Learning; D010559:Personnel Management; D010560:Personnel Selection; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D012179:Retirement; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012575:Schools, Dental / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D013192:Staff Development / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D013663:Teaching; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities