A 20-Year Perspective on Preparation Strategies and Career Planning of Pharmacy Deans

Abstract

Objective

To provide a longitudinal description of the variety of career paths and preparation strategies of pharmacy deans.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study design using survey research methodology was used. Chief executive officer (CEO) deans at every full and associate member institution of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) in the United States as of May 1, 2009, were potential subjects.

Results

The database housed 90.3% (N = 93) of all current (excluding interim/acting) CEO deans. Of the 4 cohorts across time (1991, 1996, 2002, and 2009 snapshots), the 2009 cohort had the highest percentage of deans following either the hierarchical or nontraditional career paths.

Conclusions

Deans named since 2002 have spent less time collectively in the professoriate than cohorts before them. One reason for this is the increase in the number of deans that followed nontraditional career paths and who spent little or no time in the professoriate prior to their first deanship. This also could be due to the increased demand for individuals to serve as dean due to retirements and the creation of new institutions.

INTRODUCTION

The first inquiry into pharmacy dean career paths was published in 1992.¹ Longitudinal follow-up studies were conducted in 1997 and 2002.^2,3 These studies sought to assess the educational, personal, and professional backgrounds of sitting pharmacy deans, in addition to identifying trends and changes in the pharmacy deanship. The 2002 study also explored administrative mentoring in the pharmacy deanship.⁴ Determining the career pathway for pharmacy deans has implications for administrative career planning, by providing information on potential activities and opportunities for leadership development for aspiring deans. Elucidation of the variety of career trajectories and preparation strategies of current deans also provides insight for search committees filling vacant deanships. The previous 3 studies found 5 possible career paths leading to the pharmacy deanship as shown in Figure 1.^1-3 The traditional path begins with a faculty position, moving to a department chair/head, then to assistant or associate dean, and finally into the deanship.^1-3,5 The other possible career paths are variations of the hierarchical model skipping 1 or more steps, or assuming a deanship after working completely outside of academia. The 1997 and 2002 studies found that the assistant/associate dean position was bypassed more often than the department chair/head position in the career path towards the pharmacy deanship.^2,3

Figure 1.

Possible dean career paths.

The National Survey of Academic Deans (NSAD) found that the typical dean across all higher education disciplines was a married Caucasian male between 53 and 54 years of age.⁶ The NSAD found that administrative positions held prior to the deanship provide the primary training and preparation for serving as dean.⁶ The deanship of this century has been described as in transition from head scholar to that of chief executive officer of the college or school.^7,8 Owing to the lack of a set career trajectory, there is no career path that can be described as the norm throughout academia.⁹

Due to the personnel and budgetary responsibilities associated with the position, the department chair position has been viewed as the most direct route to the deanship across academia as a whole.¹⁰ Having served as a department chair is important especially for aspiring deans at research universities.⁶ The importance of serving as a department chair is lessened when the position is rotated among faculty members in a particular department, or is more of a figurehead position without budgetary control.¹⁰ Serving as a department head alone may not provide sufficient preparation for the deanship.⁹ Assistant and associate deanships usually do not require the personnel and budgetary responsibilities typical of department chair positions, yet they do provide an opportunity to observe the deanship from an insider's perspective, and in some cases allow the administrator to step in for the dean in his or her absence.¹⁰ Bright and Richards cited the importance of working in one's respective field in practice-based disciplines such as nursing, education, and social work, but less so in other fields, given the responsibilities of the deanship.¹⁰ In examining the desired qualities of medical school deans, Rich and colleagues cited the importance of medical school deans having a deep knowledge of clinical medicine, research, and the ability to appreciate the variety of practice settings.¹¹

Preparation for the deanship and the many roles required can vary by discipline, and how a dean understands the role is influenced by the collective experiences from time spent as a faculty member.¹² Del Favero examined learning approaches used in preparation for the academic dean's role and found that academic deans ranked (in descending order) past administrative appointments, relationships with faculty leaders, previous committee service, mentoring, trial and error, and formal leadership training as contributing most to their learning.¹² Another consideration in preparation for the deanship is serving as an interim and/or acting dean prior to assuming the deanship.¹³ Gmelch described “inside” versus “outside” deans.¹³ Serving as interim and/or acting dean, or being promoted directly from within the institution, can be viewed as being an inside dean because the individual already knows much of the institutional culture of the college or school, but may need to overcome preconceived notions or previous allegiances. An outside dean comes from another institution or completely outside of academia, and must be socialized into the institutional culture, or socialized into academia itself, in addition to the institutional culture. In the NSAD, inside hires had more organizational commitment and were less apt to consider leaving the institution as compared to outside hires.¹⁴

As described by pharmacy dean emeritus Jordan Cohen, “In an overarching sense, the role of the dean in higher education has not changed much over the years. Those role(s) are: (1) to work with faculty and other stakeholders to establish vision and direction of the program; (2) to recruit and retain the best possible faculty and staff; (3) to accumulate the necessary resources to accomplish the major goals; and (4) to mentor younger colleagues while facilitating organizational renewal and succession planning,” but given the complexities and challenges facing academic institutions today, “…every element of those 4 basic responsibilities seems to take on a different level of import and urgency.”¹⁵ The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Accreditation Standards state that the dean must be both the chief administrative and academic officer, and provide leadership in professional pharmacy education and practice as well as scholarship and service.¹⁶ The ACPE Standards also call for deans with a pharmacy degree or understanding of contemporary pharmacy practice and health systems. The higher education literature affirms the above-mentioned credentials and offers additional roles, duties, and attributes of the deans, such as being a communicator, a source of inspiration, possessing the ability to create balance, and maintain humor.^14-17,18 Rich and colleagues found 4 overarching desirable qualities of medical school deans: management skills, leadership skills, knowledge, and attitudes.¹¹ Many of the roles and attributes described in the literature are tightly interlinked as described by Rich, “Because financial management, strategic planning, and fundraising are not activities that the dean can accomplish alone, this is one of many areas in which the effectiveness of the dean hinges on building and managing expert teams.”¹¹,^p484

Investigation of the career paths of pharmacy deans can guide aspiring deans and provide information to institutions to develop programs for leadership development. The purpose of this study was to describe the variety of career paths and preparation strategies of pharmacy deans. This study also provided a longitudinal perspective on the pharmacy deanship.

METHODS

This study used a descriptive cross-sectional study design using survey research methodology. Deans at every full and associate member institution of the AACP in the United States as of May 1, 2009, were included. Subjects were identified using the AACP 2008 - 2009 Roster of Faculty and Professional Staff.¹⁹ The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Institutional Review Board declared this project exempt.

Deans who were not already in the database from previous data collections were identified. A 2-page instrument was sent to deans that had been appointed since the 2002 data collection, and to previous nonresponders. Deans who were already in the database were not resurveyed; however, their data were updated to reflect passage of time and any changes in institution. Institutions with interim or acting deans also were excluded. The first mailing was sent by first-class mail on May 6, 2009, and included a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study, a personalized instrument, a reprint of the most recent publication of the longitudinal study,³ and a self-addressed postage-paid return envelope. An e-mail reminder was sent on June 1, 2009, and a follow-up mailing was sent to all nonrespondents on July 1, 2009.

Information was collected on demographics, time in the deanship, career pathway, considerations in accepting first deanship, and external professional activities in preparation for the deanship. Because the majority of the longitudinal survey items gathered personal factual information, no formal reliability testing was conducted. Coverage and sampling error were controlled by striving for a census of pharmacy deans at full and associate institutional members of AACP. Measurement error was addressed by using a previously validated instrument. Appropriate follow-up contacts were conducted to decrease potential for nonresponse bias.

Data were entered into SPSS 17.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL) for analysis. Additional analyses were performed using Primer for Biostatistics 6.0 (McGraw-Hill Medical, New York, NY). Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, and percentages were calculated for demographic data. Longitudinal comparisons were conducted across the 1991, 1996, 2002, and 2009 cohorts of pharmacy deans, which were snapshots of the pharmacy deanship at 4 different points in time. Longitudinal data that were continuous were analyzed using a 1-way ANOVA with the Tukey multiple comparison procedures for significant results. Two-sample tests of proportions were used on longitudinal data measured at a discrete level of measurement. The a priori level of significance was set at alpha equal to 0.05. Qualitative data from open-ended items were categorized and summarized according to overarching themes.

RESULTS

At the time of data collection in mid-2009, there were 110 colleges and schools of pharmacy that were full or associate members of AACP. Seven of these 110 institutions had interim or acting deans and thus were not included in data collection, resulting in a total possible population of 103 pharmacy deans. There were 39 deans already in the database, 54 respondent deans added to the database, and 10 nonrespondents, thus representing 90.3% of all sitting deans. For the purposes of data presentation and analyses, the 53 respondents that were added to the database were designated as “newly named deans.” The 40 deans who had held a deanship prior to the 2002 data collection were designated as “established deans,” 39 of whom were already in the database, and 1 of whom was a previous nonrespondent participating for the first time.

Demographics

Table 1 provides 2009 sample demographic characteristics broken down by newly named and established deans. Table 2 shows a longitudinal comparison of demographic characteristics based on sample data across the 1991, 1996, 2002, and 2009 dean cohorts. Table 3 shows a longitudinal comparison of additional demographic characteristics based on population data across all 4 dean cohorts.^20-23 The “typical pharmacy dean” in the 2009 sample cohort (N = 93) was a white male, 57.3 ± 7.4 years (ranging from 38 to 71 years of age), who held a pharmacy degree. The average time spent in the professoriate prior to assuming their first deanship was 17.8 ± 7.4 years (ranging from 0 to 33 years). The average tenure in his or her current deanship was 6.7 ± 6.3 (ranging from 0 to 32 years). Across all deans in the cohort, total time spent in the role of dean, inclusive of all deanships held during one's career, was 8.1 ± 6.8 years (ranging from 0 to 32 years). For established deans, the total time spent in the role of dean, inclusive of all deanships held during one's career, was 14.3 ± 5.9 years (ranging from 6 to 32 years). Newly named deans spent an average of 17.1 ± 8.7 years in the professoriate prior to assuming their first deanship, compared with established deans who had spent an average of 19.0 ± 5.1 years (p = 0.006). Of the newly named deans, 3 spent no time, 2 spent between 1 and 5 years, and 6 spent between 6 and 10 years; conversely, 10 spent 25 or more years in the professoriate with a median value of 17 years before becoming a dean. None of the established deans spent any less than 9 years in professoriate, and as a group had a median value of 20 years prior to assuming a deanship.

Table 1.

2009 Sample Demographic Characteristics of US Pharmacy Deans (N = 93)

^a rarely some items were omitted resulting in a slightly smaller n value.

Table 2.

Longitudinal Comparison of Demographic Characteristics for 4 Sample Cohorts of Pharmacy Deans

Table 3.

Longitudinal Comparison of Demographic Characteristics for 4 Cohorts of Pharmacy Deans ^a

Abbreviations: PhD = doctor of philosophy; PharmD = doctor of pharmacy.

^aAdapted from AACP Profiles of Pharmacy Faculty 1991-1992, 1995-1996, 2001-2002, 2009-2010.^21-24

In the 2002 data collection, there was an increase in the time spent in the professoriate prior to assuming the first deanship when compared to the previous 2 cohorts. The average time spent in the professoriate with the 2009 dean cohort did not significantly change from the 2002 cohort (p > 0.5). The average age and length of tenure in present deanship did not differ across all 4 dean cohorts. Male and female deans were no different in terms of years spent in the professoriate prior to assuming their first deanship in 2009. For the 2009 cohort, male deans had an average length of tenure of 7.5 ± 6.9 years, and female deans had an average of 4.4 ± 3.4 years (p = 0.001).

The number of deans with a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree as the highest terminal degree continues to increase relative to the number with PhD degrees. Twenty-five (47%) of the 53 newly named deans in this sample had a PharmD as the highest terminal degree. Ten (18.9%) of the newly named deans did not possess a pharmacy degree, whereas only 3 (7.5%) of the established deans were not pharmacists. Thus, 86% of the sitting deans had a pharmacy degree. The number of female deans continues to increase, accounting for nearly a quarter of pharmacy deans. In 1991 there were no female deans. Sixty-nine of the 93 deans (74.2%) in the 2009 cohort indicated that their current dean position was their first deanship.

Career Path

The hierarchical path described the career path of 22 (23.7%) of the pharmacy deans in this study. The breakdown of the variations of the career paths for the 2009 cohort is shown in Figure 2. Of the 4 cohorts of deans across time, the 2009 cohort had the highest percentage following either hierarchical or nontraditional career paths to the deanship as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2.

Career path comparisons for the 2009 cohort of pharmacy deans.

Figure 3.

Longitudinal career path comparisons for 1991, 1996, 2002, 2009 dean cohorts.

Looking across the 4 cohorts, fewer deans are bypassing the department head/chair position in their career path. Of the newly named deans, 17% (n = 9) followed the nontraditional career path to the deanship. Of those 9 deans, 6 spent a limited amount of time in academia early in their professional careers, prior to pursuing other career opportunities, while the remaining 3 deans had no prior academic experience. The varied career paths of newly named deans included working in industry, pharmacy practice settings, outside of academia for periods of time in a variety of capacities, and outside of pharmacy altogether. Ten of the 53 newly named deans (18.9%) had no administrative experience in a college or school of pharmacy as part of their career path prior to assuming the deanship.

Of the 53 newly named deans, 22 (41.5%) were promoted from within their institution, 14 of whom had served as interim or acting dean prior to assuming the deanship. In the 2002 cohort of newly named deans, 41.4% of the 29 newly named deans were promoted from within their institution, and in the 1996 cohort, 24% of the 25 newly named deans were internal candidates. Of the 60 sitting deans in the original 1991 cohort, 17 (28%) were internal hires.

Professional Activities

Newly named deans were asked to rate various professional activities as follows: “have not participated;” “participated, not important;” “participated, somewhat important;” “participated, very important.” The results are detailed in Table 4. Most newly named deans (n = 46) had attended the AACP annual/interim meeting (88.5%), attended institutional specific programs for leadership (85.0%), and served as a paid external consultant (70.6%). Few had participated in either the department chair or fellow programs of the American Council on Education Programs. Over 70% of the newly named deans believed that attending the AACP annual/interim meetings and institutional specific programs for leadership were somewhat or very important in contributing to professional advancement as an administrator. Four deans (7.5%) indicated in the “Other” category that they participated in the Harvard Management Development Program and rated participation as very important. Another predominant theme in the open-ended responses centered around leadership opportunities in a variety of settings.

Table 4.

Professional Activities of Newly Named Deans (N = 53)

Abbreviations: AACP = American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

^a 4 deans (7.5%) indicated the value of the Harvard Management Development Program.

Twenty-five of 53 newly named deans indicated which 2 activities were most highly recommended to aspiring administrative candidates (irrespective of their own participation). Those rankings were: attending AACP annual/interim meeting programming; participating in AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP) as a fellow; attending institution-specific programs for leadership; and serving in an elected position of a state/regional professional organization.

Considerations in Accepting First Deanship

Newly named deans rated the mission/philosophy of the institution and institutional reputation as having high importance in making the decision to accept their first deanship. Geographic location and being ready for a change were rated as having moderate-to-high importance. Spousal/partner employment and family education opportunities were rated as having low importance, while salary and start-up package were rated as having low-to-moderate importance. The overall benefit package, retirement plan, physical facilities of the institution, and current faculty at the institution were rated as having moderate importance. Detailed results are shown in Table 5. In the open-ended responses, 4 newly named deans reported that the opportunity to start a new college or school of pharmacy had a very high level of importance.

Table 5.

Response Frequencies and Percentages Regarding Considerations in Accepting First Deanship for Newly Named Deans (N = 53)

Abbreviations: NA = not applicable

^a Degree of importance was rated on a 5-point scale (anchored at 1 = not at all, and 5 = very high) with an option to indicate the consideration as not applicable.

^b Opportunity to start a new college/school of pharmacy.

When compared to the 2002 cohort, the mission/philosophy of the institution and institutional reputation continued to be rated as having high importance. The geographic location, salary, and overall benefit package decreased in rating of importance as considerations in accepting their first deanship for newly named deans (p < 0.05). More of the considerations were rated as having moderate importance when compared to previous dean cohorts. Spousal/partner employment opportunities and family educational opportunities were consistently the lowest rated considerations in all cohorts.

Only 36 of the 53 respondents indicated the 2 most important considerations in accepting their first deanship, and the most frequently cited factors were: the mission/philosophy of the institution, being ready for a change, and the current faculty at the institution.

Greatest Lessons Learned

Newly named deans were asked to provide the greatest lesson or lessons learned from their first year as dean. The grouped responses (in descending order) were: the importance of communication (particularly listening); the sheer complexity of the job and enterprise; the importance of building relationships; talent recognition and development; strategic planning; understanding the environment; delegating; budgetary considerations; and time management.

Advice to Aspiring Deans

Newly named deans were asked what advice they would provide to aspiring deans. The grouped suggestions (in descending order) were: find good mentors and networking opportunities; pursue a deanship for the right reasons; appreciate the importance of institutional environmental scanning; attend national professional society meetings to be exposed to national and professional issues; participate in leadership programming and professional development; recognize personal change and the resultant effects; listen and communicate; recognize and develop talent; and learn about budget management and strategic planning.

DISCUSSION

Demographics

The 2009 cohort of newly named deans spent less time in the professoriate prior to assuming their first deanship, which is the reverse of the cohort of then newly named deans in the 2002 data collection, who had spent more time than the respective cohort of established deans. Deans named since the last data collection had less time collectively in the professoriate than cohorts before them. One reason is an increase in the number of deans who had nontraditional career paths and who spent little or no time in the professoriate prior to assuming their first deanship. This could also be due to the increased demand for individuals to serve as deans, due to various factors, such as new colleges and schools, and retirements. In mid-2002 during data collection, there were 83 colleges and schools of pharmacy compared to 110 colleges and schools in mid-2009, with more of them in varying levels of opening and/or planning stages.

Female deans also had a shorter tenure in their current deanship than their male counterparts. The majority of female deans had assumed their first deanship since the last data collection. This is consistent with what Wolverton found in education deans, that female education deans had been in their current positions for less time than male deans.²⁴ The number of female deans in pharmacy has not kept pace with the increase in the number of women in the profession, which also was noted by Andrews in academic medicine, “Given that the proportion of men and women in medical school classes have been similar for some time, it seems puzzling that there are not more women in leadership positions in academic medicine.”^{25, p1887}

The number of deans with a PharmD as the highest terminal degree continues to increase. The number of deans holding a PhD has remained fairly constant since the 1991 data collection, but the percentage of the total number of deans continues to decrease. It was suggested in the 2002 study that as the number of new colleges and schools of pharmacy continued to increase, so might the number of deans holding a PharmD as the highest degree. This prediction was supported with almost half of the newly named deans having the PharmD as the highest degree. This could be a function of fewer PhDs with pharmacy degrees in the pool of candidates. The mission and philosophy of the new schools may also be a factor. Given the predominance of women in the pharmacy practice discipline, as the number of women increases in the deanship, an increase in the number of PharmDs in the deanship also could increase.

Career Path

Newly named deans in the 2009 data collection were more apt to follow the hierarchical career path, less apt to bypass both the assistant/associate dean and the department head/chair positions, and had a higher likelihood of following a nontraditional career path, compared to the newly named dean cohort from the 2002 data collection. Within the nontraditional career path, there appeared to be a new career path, with the newly named deans having an early, brief stint in academia, but then moving to a variety of positions outside of academia prior to assuming a deanship. Given the number of newly named deans without administrative experience within a college or school of pharmacy, further development opportunities outside of academia that prepared individuals for the deanship could be suggested. This could have implications for professional development activities to prepare deans who enter the deanship through a more nontraditional path.

The 2009 cohort of deans followed the hierarchical career path more than in the past. The percentage of deans bypassing the department head/chair position also continued to decrease. The continued drop in the percentage of deans bypassing the department head/chair position could be indicative of the importance of the budgetary control and personnel experience afforded by this position in preparation for the deanship.

The number of deans promoted from within their institution remained steady, at around 41% of newly named deans since the 2002 data collection. This could indicate that colleges and schools continued to see the benefits of hiring internally. The benefits of being an “inside” dean could include requiring less time acclimating to issues at the college or school, as well as at the larger university; however, overcoming preconceptions about their role and past relationships with current faculty members would be required as well.¹³ In the first 2 cohorts, about a fourth of the deans were promoted from within. One area to track in future iterations of this longitudinal study will be to measure how many deans move from being interim or acting dean to full dean. In the 2009 cohort of newly named deans, about a quarter of them had served as interim or acting dean prior to assuming the deanship. This could serve as a potential new career path, serving in a trial position, prior to assuming the position on a more long-term basis.

In the past 20 years, other than a small number of individuals serving as president of a private college or school of pharmacy, only a few pharmacy deans have assumed positions in academic administration at the university level. These appointments have included 3 provosts, 2 vice presidents for health sciences, and 3 vice presidents/vice chancellors for research.

Professional Activities

Even though only 4 deans had participated as fellows in the AACP ALFP, it was recommended as an activity for aspiring administrative candidates. This could be because they participated as dean facilitators and/or supported faculty members' participation, and saw the value of this program. AACP continues to be a valuable resource to aspiring deans through its programs, products, and services. The core professional activities for preparation have not changed dramatically since the 2002 cohort. One professional activity that emerged in the open-ended responses, which will be tracked in further installments of this longitudinal study, was the Harvard Management Development Program (MDP), in which 4 deans indicated participation, and which they rated as very important. The program objectives of the Harvard MDP include both leadership and budgetary topics aimed at deans, directors, and department chairs in the early years of their appointment. The program is offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/programs/higher-education/portfolio/management-development.html).

Considerations in Accepting First Deanship

The importance of spousal/partner employment opportunities and family educational opportunities did not increase as predicted in the previous study, with the increase in the number of female deans or younger deans who might have young children or 2-career households. The most important factors in the deans' decision to accept a deanship were the mission/philosophy of the institution and institutional reputation. This was closely followed by “being ready for change,” and geographic location. The “change” could refer to a change in institution, position, responsibilities, or a combination of these.

Greatest Lessons Learned and Advice to Aspiring Deans

Based on many years of experience, Krahenbuhl reflected on the roles a dean must play and suggested qualities of an effective leader. These are: competence, honesty, vision, decisiveness, communication, empathy, balance, humor, delegation, optimism, inspiration, and role model.^{17, p19-20} These traits have been mentioned by pharmacy deans to varying degrees across all 4 cohorts, and therefore can serve as a foundation for professional development activities, providing guidance to search committees.

CONCLUSION

Given the rapid growth in pharmacy academia, projected retirements, and “graying” of the faculty, there is an increasing need to develop and cultivate future pharmacy deans. Past administrative posts, attendance at AACP programs, leadership development program participation, and serving in consultancies prepare individuals to serve as a dean; however, continued reflective practice, learning, and experience in the role transform an individual into an effective leader.