Academic tenure and collective bargaining in American dental schools

In thier survey of organizational structures in American dental schools, Dilts and Fields reported that the organization and administration of dental schools are of importance in the operation and attainment of educational goals. If one institutional goal is to provide faculty with attractive working conditions, then academic tenure and collective bargaining are important. In this respect, dental schools run true to higher education form. Having great variability, tenure systems were reported to be universal in dental schools. On the other hand, collective bargaining was found to be a new phenomenon on trial. The experience of dental schools with academic tenure and the trial of collective bargaining are of some interest to all college educators. Dilts and Fields concluded that "Although dental education is traditional in nature, resisting changes as do other phases of higher education, the results indicate that dental education is dynamic and is responding to internal as well as external needs." Dental educators may wish to follow these tenure and union issues to help determine successful policies for the conditions of dental faculty employment.