Dr Garland Hershey - Keynote 3202000

Dr. Garland Hershey - Keynote 3/20/2000

Retention and Recruitment of Academic Veterinarians

(Prasse notes, modified by Dr. Hershey himself)

The 4 R’s of finding and keeping academic faculty for colleges and schools of veterinary medicine

4 R’s: recognition (2 components) -- recognizing the problem

		recognizing the quarry
recruitment	--	who, when & how to recruit?
retention	--	systems & process to retain
rewards	--	what can be offered to attract and keep faculty
		long term

Recognition - This meeting is a good start - VM recognizes the problem. Health professions have not done this very well.

Few institutions have prospectively processed ways to recognize the quarry. Be assertive in identifying.

Solutions: quantity location, magnitude, data -- questionnaire to all schools to quantify faculty availability, age, rank and gender of current -- establish a solid target for future years --- Needs to be done in your own institution -- include actuary profile/changing demographics use of technicians, etc.

age rank gender

# vacant positions by discipline and how long vacant

estimated retirement dates of current faculty (this can be done fairly accurately) historical turnover rate

reasons for separations (will require individual followup) Where will profession/market be in ??? years -- need data and details

e.g.	KPMG study

Other health professions have found: graying of faculty, ideas for future study -- mean age of faculty increasing over time -- Nursing finds mean age increasing --- now buy-outs are occurring to worsen the issue. Dental - ½ faculty turns over every 5 years --- no information exists on why they come and go. Simply interview new faculty and ask why they chose to join us. JAVMA December 15, 1999 pitifully small # of US graduates entering academic vet med. Without active intervention, unlikely to improve.

So there is an opportunity.

Identifying prospective faculty -- begin with first year students -- be more assertive, squelch negativism --accentuate the positive. Individuals can have a huge impact. Interacting with knowledgeable colleagues, teaching students -- can be made very attractive to students. Students like and respect their faculty and listen to what they say. Remember your own early days!!!