Recognizing military service as scholarship of application in pharmacy promotion and tenure

Pharmacy promotion and tenure (P&T) frameworks emphasize the scholarship of discovery and teaching, while the scholarship of application is inconsistently defined and undervalued, a gap documented across the health professions. Military service is a high-value but frequently overlooked example.

Without clear criteria for applied scholarship, military scholarly products and graduate leadership credentials remain undervalued, weakening faculty diversity and curricular capacity in areas pharmacy education increasingly requires.

Drawing on Boyer's scholarship of application and community-engaged scholarship frameworks, this commentary argues that military contributions constitute rigorous scholarship, illustrated by Pacific Island humanitarian missions as one example.

Explicit recognition of applied scholarship, including military service, strengthens faculty development and helps pharmacy programs meet contemporary educational priorities.