FACTORS UTILIZED BY PHARMACY FACULTY IN SELECTING THEIR FIRST ACADEMIC POSITION

The purpose of this study was to examine how new pharmacy faculty memb ers learned of their current positions, what they regarded as the posi tion's most important aspect, and what factors were most important in their decision process, The American Association of Colleges of Pharma cy identified 96 new faculty members in '90-91 and 244 in '95-96. Data were collected from these individuals through a pretested, mailed que stionnaire, Sixty-seven (70 percent) usable surveys were returned from the '90-91 group and 137 (57 percent) from the '95-96 group. The resu lts showed that most new faculty members learned of their position thr ough networking, a combination of the ability to combine practice with teaching was the most attractive aspect of the position, and a balanc e of teaching, research, and service was the most important item in de ciding to accept the position. Faculty position descriptions should em phasis the unique opportunities to combine teaching with practice, res earch, and service.