Trends in Tenure and Promotion Policies and Practices in U.S. Medical Schools: A Webinar on Recent Research Findings - June 7

Appointment, promotion, and tenure policies and practices are key tools for faculty diversity, equity, vitality, well-being, and success. The system of academic tenure has been in place for more than 100 years; the vast majority of U.S. medical schools offer tenure-track and tenured appointments to at least some of their faculty. And yet the majority of individual faculty members in medical schools are not on the tenure-track. Is tenure relevant in today's environment in academic medicine or not? How are schools innovating their policies in a rapidly changing economic, political, and social environment?

Based on data from the AAMC’s 2022 Survey on Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Policies and AAMC’s Faculty Roster, this session will address the following topics:

• Prevalence of tenure employment systems at U.S. MD-granting medical schools
• Frequency of tenured and tenure-track appointments for basic science and clinical faculty
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria in faculty promotion and tenure standards
• Flexibility in faculty policies
• Future innovations and trends

Learning Objectives

1. Identify trends in U.S. medical schools' policies and practices in faculty appointment, promotion, and tenure.
2. Understand approaches of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria in promotion and tenure standards.
3. Investigate how participants' own institutional policies compare to national norms and trends.

William T. Mallon, EdD
Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation Development

William T. Mallon, EdD, is Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation Development at the Association of American Medical Colleges. In that role, Dr. Mallon is responsible for strategy development and strategic foresight, implementation of the AAMC’s strategic plan, strategy performance metrics, and organizational innovation. Concurrently, he publishes regularly on the management, organization, and leadership of higher education and academic medicine. He founded Faculty Forward (now StandPoint SurveysTM), which the largest collection of data of U.S. medical school faculty satisfaction and engagement. Mallon is the author of The Handbook of Academic Medicine: How Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals Work and co-author of Leading: Top Skills, Attributes, and Behaviors Critical for Success, which is the AAMC’s all-time best-selling management and leadership publication. Dr. Mallon received Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Richmond and Masters and Doctorate from Harvard University. He is the author of 35 journal articles, books chapters, and monographs; his peer-reviewed research has appeared in journals such as Science, Academic Medicine, Innovative Higher Education, and New Directions in Higher Education. His study on academic tenure won the Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Citation of Excellence from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Natalya Cox, MPH
Research Analyst

Natalya Cox, MPH, is a research analyst at the AAMC. She joined the AAMC from a role in research administration at The Johns Hopkins University. Natalya earned her Master of Public Health degree from Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. In her position at the AAMC, Natalya researches and analyzes data related to issues affecting academic medicine. She is coauthor of the AAMC’s December 2022 report, Climate Action in Academic Medicine. Natalya’s research interests include how emerging technology contributes to the evolution of academic medicine as well as improving access to healthcare for minoritized people and communities.