Retention of part-time faculty

Part-time faculty members are a large and important part of teaching programs at dental schools across the nation. Retaining part-time faculty members is important in order to provide consistency of instruction and because training new faculty requires time and effort that otherwise would go into building a stronger teaching program. This paper discusses methods used at the University of Washington School of Dentistry department of restorative dentistry to keep the part-time faculty actively engaged in dental education year after year. These methods include involving the faculty members in the entire teaching program, providing them with inservice training, and doing some personal things for them. The methods have proved successful as shown by the retention rate in the last three years.