The role of the mentor in retaining junior pharmacy faculty members

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has identified faculty retention as a top concern since 76 colleges of pharmacy reported a total of 406 vacant and/or lost positions in the 2004-2005 academic year. Since today's junior faculty members are tomorrow's leaders in pharmacy education, retention of quality faculty members is critical to our future. Mentoring is one effective method of retaining faculty members and decreasing workplace stress, especially in the area of scholarship. However, in the last decade, the disproportionate increase of junior faculty members to the number of senior faculty members employed has resulted in a major limitation of the dyad (mentor and protégé) mentoring process. One effective method of overcoming this limitation is the use of the triad mentoring model (organization, mentor, and protégé). Colleges of pharmacy that consider adopting this triad model will likely promote an environment that nurtures relationships, resulting in job satisfaction, and thereby leading to retention of junior faculty members.