Abstract
Objective. Seventy-four women served as chief executive officer (CEO) deans of US schools and colleges of pharmacy from January 1988-December 2020. This study examined the characteristics of those women with the objective of providing information useful for preparing future women deans.
Methods. Public domain resources were accessed to obtain information about women pharmacy CEO deans, including names of institution(s) where individuals had served or were serving, dates of service, academic background, whether they were a founding dean, and whether they had served or were serving in other academic higher education positions. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, standard deviations, and percentages) were used for data comparisons (quantitative research). Finally, three early women CEO deans provided perspectives about their deanships (qualitative research).
Results. The median length of service was six years for women in office as of December 31, 2020, and eight years for women who had completed deanships. The percentage of deans holding a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) declined to 32.4%, while there was a concurrent rise in deans having a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree (58.8%); 79.4% of deans in office and 77% of all women deans had a professional pharmacy degree (BSPharm, PharmD, or both). Women had served or were currently serving as CEO deans at a wide variety of pharmacy schools. The percentage of schools with women deans has declined in recent years to 24%.
Conclusion. Recommendations are put forward to prepare future women deans including increased mentoring and creation of an advanced leadership program aimed at potential deans.
INTRODUCTION
The history of pharmacy education in the United States dates back more than 200 years to the founding of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1821. By 1890, 23 pharmacy schools had been established. Among those schools, only nine students were female as noted in Appendix 1 of Metta Lou Henderson’s book American Women Pharmacists. 1 The first female pharmacy student graduated in 1863 from the New York College of Pharmacy (which later merged with Columbia). 1, 2 As new schools were founded around the beginning of the 20th century, even more female students enrolled. However, the numbers and percentages of women were small compared to those for men. Women were not considered by some as suitable for community practice because they were thought to lack the physical stamina and ability to put in the 16-hour workdays required of community pharmacists. Nevertheless, there were women in the early years who became community pharmacists because they were pharmacy owners or business partners with their spouses. Many went into hospital pharmacy, which at the time paid less than community practice, but gave women a chance to develop into pharmacy leaders. Henderson also describes the role women played in the profession and highlights individual women who held important leadership roles. 1 Appendix 1 of her book lists the first women graduates from each US pharmacy school through 1950.
The relatively small number of women in pharmacy continued into the 1970s, except during World War II when women constituted a larger proportion of pharmacy students. In 1957, women made up about 6.4% of the pharmacist workforce. 3 In the late 1970s, however, the combination of changing societal attitudes about women preparing for careers and “capitation” legislation (ie, 1971 Comprehensive Health Manpower Training Act and the 1976 Health Professions Educational Assistance Act) greatly expanded class sizes. The percentage of pharmacy classes filled by women grew dramatically. The tipping point nationally occurred in 1985 when 52% of entering students were female, and that number quickly rose to proportions that have continued to the present (2020 figures report 63% of pharmacy students were women) although individual schools may have varying percentages. 4
With a greater influx of women than men into the profession, it was inevitable that women would eventually predominate in the pharmacy workforce. This occurred in 2011, when data showed that slightly greater than 50% of pharmacists were women. 5 As this change was happening, alarms were raised about whether the higher percentage of women pharmacists would result in workforce shortages as women chose to work part-time or stepped out of the workforce to raise children. This did not happen as workforce data show that women pharmacists work almost the same full-time equivalency as men, especially over a lifetime. Quinones and Mason showed that women pharmacists were not leaving the profession at a rate that differed from men. 6 There was also fear that the profession would lack leaders because women would hesitate to assume managerial and leadership roles. 7 This fear was also unfounded as shown by 2014 data, which revealed that the majority of pharmacists in management positions were women. 8
As the gender ratio of the pharmacy student body changed, so did that of the faculty, but with a lag as female pharmacists sought credentials to become faculty members. Henderson documents the first women faculty members in each school from the early 1880s (University of Michigan) to 1978 (Washington State University). Data show that percentages of faculty members who were women have grown from 4.8% of full-time faculty in 1972-1973, to 26% in 1992-1993, to 51.2% in 2019-2020. 9-11 In 2018-2019, 57.3% of first-time faculty were female, with 40.6% holding a PhD and 50.8% holding a PharmD degree. 12
The glass ceiling in academic leadership at the CEO deanship level was broken in 1988 when Adelaide Van Titus became the first woman dean of an accredited US pharmacy school (Temple University). The topic of women assuming the role of CEO dean deserves consideration in that the diversity brought by women deans leads to better decision making, and women serve an important role in modeling leadership characteristics and aspirations for women students and faculty. 13, 14 Therefore, the authors decided to track women who had assumed CEO deanships in the 32 years from 1988 to 2020 and observe various characteristics of their service.
METHODS
This mixed methods research study looked at both quantitative and qualitative data. The data collected represent all women CEO pharmacy deans from January 1988-December 2020.
A variety of resources were used in the quantitative aspect of this research. An initial list of women CEO deans was compiled using the following sources: Historical Census of Deans of Pharmacy, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) information, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, websites of US schools and colleges of pharmacy, and Council of Deans minutes from AACP Annual Meetings. 15-21 These resources were used to determine institutions where deans served or were serving, and each dean’s dates of service, their academic background, whether they were a founding dean, as well as their titles, starting dates, and places where they had held or were holding other academic higher education positions. The AACP’s lists of CEO deans were used at the end of our research to determine deans in place as of December 31, 2020. 22, 23 Information was compiled from public domain sources. After the collected information was organized in a spreadsheet (Appendix 1), it was sent to all women CEO deans for their final verification. The majority of information about degrees the deans had obtained was collected using the public domain data previously noted; a few deans were contacted directly to obtain this information. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, standard deviations, and percentages) were calculated for data comparisons.
For the qualitative aspect of this study, three of the first 12 female CEO deans of pharmacy schools in the United States were interviewed to gain their perspectives about their careers (Appendix 2). Each woman was asked the same questions: How did you prepare to become a dean, what were your accomplishments and challenges, and what advice would you give to other women? Ilia Oquendo Jimenez was chosen because she was the second female dean in the United States, the first female pharmacist dean, and a basic scientist. Barbara Wells was chosen because she was the first female dean with a PharmD as her terminal degree, and Arcelia Johnson-Fannin was chosen because she started two new pharmacy programs. All three deans approved the quotes selected; therefore, IRB approval for this research was not sought.
RESULTS
The names of women CEO deans of accredited US schools of pharmacy and their academic service are listed chronologically in Appendix 1. Figure 1 shows the number of women CEO deans in the United States beginning with 1988 and the percentage of pharmacy schools with women deans. The number of women CEO deans climbed steadily until 2010 at which point it leveled off (33+/−3). The number of accredited pharmacy schools in the United States has continued to increase; therefore, the percentage of schools with women deans has fallen to 24%. These figures account for permanent (not interim) CEO deans.
Number and percentage of women deans in US schools of pharmacy, 1988-2020.
The length of service (to 0.5 years) as a CEO dean was determined for both women deans who were in office as of December 31, 2020, and those who had completed their deanships. For the 34 deans in office, the range of service was 0.5 to 16.5 years, the median length of service was 6 years, and the mean length of tenure was 6.6 years (SD=4.6 years). For the 40 deans who completed their service, the range of time in office was 1.5 to 21.5 years, the median length of service was 8 years, and the mean tenure was 8.4 years (SD=5.6 years).
Many search committees believe it is important for leaders of professional schools such as pharmacy to have backgrounds in the profession to appropriately guide faculty in the education of students. Such a background can be obtained in many ways, but the most common is through completion of a professional degree. For this analysis and to see changes in the academic qualifications of female deans over time, the women CEO deans were divided into three groups: group A included the first 12 women pharmacy deans in the United States (Table 1), group B included the 34 women pharmacy deans serving as of December 31, 2020 (Table 2), and group C included all 74 women pharmacy deans (Appendix 1).
Degrees Held by the First 12 Women CEO Pharmacy Deans in the United States, Appointed 1988-2000
Degrees of Women CEO Pharmacy Deans in office as of December 31, 2020 (Group B; 34 Individuals)
Of the deans in group A, 41.7% had a PhD degree as a terminal degree, 50% had a PharmD degree, and one had a Doctor of Education (EdD) degree. Of those with PhDs, all had Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (BSPharm) degrees. Five of the six deans with PharmD degrees also had BSPharm degrees.
The percentage of deans in group B with a PhD was less than the percentage of deans in group A with a PhD (32.4% vs 41.7%) and less than in group C (32.4% vs 36.5%). One dean in group B and three deans in group C had both a PharmD and a PhD degree. One hundred percent of deans with PhDs in group A, but only 54.5% of group B and 55.6% of group C had BSPharm degrees. The percentage of deans in group B with a PharmD degree, either alone or in combination with a BSPharm degree, was 58.8%, and the percentage with any professional pharmacy degree (BSPharm, PharmD, or both) was 79.4%. Of all 74 CEO deans, 77% had at least one professional pharmacy degree.
A review of the ethnicity of the first 12 women CEO deans shows that there were five deans of color, including two African American, two Asian, and one Latina. Racial and ethnic diversity data were unavailable for later deans. Two of the five served at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). Currently, there are six Historically Black and one Predominately Black Colleges and Universities (according to the US Department of Education definitions) in the United States that have schools of pharmacy. Five of the seven schools have had a woman dean, and two of those schools have each had two women deans.
Since 1998, of the 68 new pharmacy schools founded in the United States, 10 were founded by women. One woman, Arcelia Johnson-Fannin, founded two of the 10 schools of pharmacy.
Seventeen (23%) of women CEO deans expanded their leadership roles beyond pharmacy education into higher education administration. The titles and numbers of academic leadership positions that women CEO deans had held or were holding as of December 31, 2020, are included in Table 3. Some deans have held more than one position.
Higher Education Administration Positions Held While Serving as CEO Dean or After Deanship(s) of a Pharmacy School or Collegea
Nine of the 17 (52.9%) held positions while serving as dean, and 11 of 17 (64.7%) held positions after leaving their deanship. (Three held positions during and after their deanship.) Among the 34 women CEO deans as of December 31, 2020, 8.8% held concurrent positions in higher education administration.
For the purposes of this study, we defined research intensive schools as those with a Carnegie Classification rating of R1 or R2, or a 4-year medical/academic health center, with greater than $1 million in federal funding according to AACP data for 2020. 24, 25 There were 59 schools with that combination, 15 (25.4%) of which had women CEO deans (as of December 2020). 25 If one expands the criteria, there were 65 schools with R1, R2, or AHC Carnegie Classification ratings and greater than $500K funding; 18 of 65 (27.7%) have women CEO deans. 25 From a different perspective, 30 of the 74 women deans served at some point as deans of schools that had greater than $1 million in funding; 37 of the 74 women deans served as deans of schools that had greater than $500K in funding as of 2020.
The mission of institutions has historically been related to funding. Private schools were generally more teaching-centered, and public universities were more research intensive. However, the distinction between the programs has blurred with both carrying similar weight in both areas. One explanation for this is that American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accreditation standards require all institutions have the tripartite mission.
As of January 2021, there were 140 US-based schools of pharmacy with accredited (full or candidate status) professional degree programs and two schools with precandidate status. 26 Of AACP member schools of pharmacy, 72 were in private institutions and 70 were in publicly supported universities. 26 Of the 34 women CEO deans serving as of December 2020, 19 were leading private institutions and 15 were leading public schools. This is roughly proportional to the overall distribution of public and private institutions.
DISCUSSION
Our examination of the 74 women who have held or hold CEO deanships in US pharmacy schools led to several important observations, both about the academic background of those assuming deanships and their preparation for the role. What is clear is that women CEO deans have a wide range of academic backgrounds and have served in the full range of pharmacy schools.
Draugalis and Plaza as well as Plaza and colleagues have written about the career paths individuals (women and men as a group) follow to become CEO deans. 27, 28 Changes in these pathways occur over time. The hierarchical pathway (faculty to department chair/head to assistant or associate dean to CEO dean) remains most common, while a nontraditional pathway is gaining relevance. We did not specifically look at career paths to deanships, but at the academic background individuals possess to become CEO deans.
The number of women CEO deans with PhDs has declined. This may be because of the switch from a BSPharm to the PharmD degree as the only degree for pharmacy practice. The Academy should carefully track individuals who have both a pharmacy background and a research focus (ie, PharmD plus fellowship or PharmD plus PhD) as they may be well-rounded candidates for future leadership positions. Some universities offer a BS in pharmaceutical sciences, and this degree combined with a PhD in a pharmaceutical science may provide another appropriate educational background to qualify someone for a leadership position.
Pharmacy education should explore additional academic backgrounds and experiences which may prepare individuals for CEO dean positions. A few women CEO deans have terminal degrees such as an EdD, Doctor of Health Education (DHEd), or Doctor of Medicine (MD). Outstanding deans with PhDs outside of pharmacy have acquired expertise in pharmacy and pharmacy education by serving as faculty members and assistant and associate deans in pharmacy programs over many years.
Draugalis and Plaza and Plaza and colleagues have described a nontraditional pathway through which individuals from outside of academia with appropriate academic background and experiences have successfully filled pharmacy CEO deanships. 27, 28 It is important for those individuals to have guidance from mentors and speak with individuals in higher education to formulate their views and vision for academic pharmacy.
An increasing number of individuals with PharmD degrees are becoming CEO deans. Many have completed post-doctoral residencies and/or fellowships. This advanced preparation can expand individuals’ expertise in pharmacy, administration, research, and other critically important areas for CEO deanships. This may be the academic background for many future CEO deans.
Some women CEO deans have left deanships to assume positions in higher education administration or added those positions to their dean role. This reflects that these women are respected by their institutions for the leadership they have provided in the dean role. The decision to focus primarily on issues of higher education rather than the development of faculty, students, and practitioners, research, and the college itself is one of personal preference. It should be noted that although not documented with data in this article, women faculty have moved into higher education administrative roles without assuming a CEO deanship first. 29
We identified a decline in the percentage of pharmacy school deans that were women beginning in 2010 (Figure 1). This happened at a time when the profession needed CEO deans in increasing numbers because of normal turnover, an increased number of pharmacy schools, and the “graying” of the Academy. As of December 31, 2020, there were 14 people in interim CEO dean positions, five of whom were women. 30 The Academy must prepare for the future by recruiting and preparing leaders for its schools. Diversity including gender, race, and ethnicity in the leadership ranks is critical for many reasons. Data show that diversity leads to better decision-making in an organization 13 and with women making up 65% of actively practicing pharmacy professionals, female role models are essential to help women pharmacists envision their own leadership roles. 31 In order to have sufficient numbers and diversity, women must be actively recruited for leadership positions along with men. Plans must be put in place to help candidates of both genders, as well as various races and ethnicities, to be successful as CEO deans.
One explanation for the decline in the percentage of women CEO deans might be a decrease in the preparation of women to be deans. However, data suggest that the pipeline has many women who could assume such a leadership position. The pipeline should include professors, associate deans and department heads. Our study found that 36.6% of professors in pharmacy schools in 2020-2021 were women; 49.3% of associate deans were women; and 37.3% of department heads were women. 32 While the pipeline of women faculty appears to be adequate to maintain the progress that has been made, the declining numbers suggest it is less than ideal to provide a pool of qualified women candidates for dean positions. So what is keeping women from proceeding all the way to the deanship?
First, one must ask why anyone might want to be a CEO dean. There are joys and satisfaction as well as challenges associated with the role of dean as expressed in the interviews of three former deans (see Appendix 2). They stated that the CEO deanship presents the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students, faculty, health care, higher education, and the pharmacy profession, which can be highly rewarding.
The role of CEO dean is challenging, and not everyone is prepared for the challenges that a dean will face. From the time of appointment, deans have a 24/7 job. Deans are accountable to a broad spectrum of constituents, including students, faculty, and alumni. They must continually work to inform university administration and other deans of the needs of the school. Deans must know how to negotiate and when to fight for resources. They serve at the pleasure of their presidents/chancellors, and there will be times when they do not know if they will have a job the following week. Deans must learn to shepherd resources, both financial and human. They must be futuristic, scan the horizon for opportunities and threats, and help their faculty cope with change. They must be cool under intense pressure and know which hills are worth dying on for the good of the school. They must understand that they are essentially in a glass house 24 hours a day.
In these times, leaders are challenged even more to make sense of where the profession and health care are headed. Jordan Cohen speaks to the increasingly rapid rate of change in the profession, higher education, and pharmacy education, together with globalization and economic pressures, and concludes that CEO deanships are becoming increasingly challenging. 33 If we add the circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see an even-more demanding and fast-paced environment facing deans. Any candidate must be prepared to thrive on problem-solving and welcome the challenge to lead in turbulent times. An excellent dean can have an enormous influence on how their institution survives environmental, economic, and other challenges. However, we see no indication that either the positive aspects or the challenges of a deanship are viewed differently by men and women as they consider moving into this position. While this would be a rich area of study, we must look further as we think about barriers to women becoming CEO deans.
There have been many articles that discuss barriers to the advancement of women. These include family and work values as described in Appendix 2 by Ilia Oquendo Jimenez. Women experience issues where they may be ready to become a CEO dean but lack mobility because of family issues. As more spouses of both genders have careers of their own, this is likely to be less of a gender-specific issue. However, according to McLean and colleagues, women who are mobile can advance more easily in academic medicine. 34
In our opinion, there are generational differences that occur in both women and men. Today’s workforce generally has developed a better work/life balance. As faculty observe challenges facing a CEO dean and assess their own work/life situation, they may be happy to stay in their current role, especially if they are succeeding well with a research program or clinical practice or find teaching very satisfying. They may realize that becoming dean would greatly restrict their ability to continue their current activities. We do not know whether these factors influence women differently than men. This may be an area for future investigation.
Finally, there may simply be a lack of career planning that includes preparation for the CEO deanship. Such preparation requires a mentor taking the potential future dean in hand and working with them to prepare for this role. These mentors can be of either gender, but potential mentors should identify men and women and individuals of all races and ethnicities to prepare for a dean’s role. Potential mentors who have an implicit bias about the gender of a successful dean may not identify with or work well with potential women dean candidates.
A mentor can help candidates identify their strengths and assess the environment(s) where they may best succeed (ie, where their background, experiences, and talents best align with the mission of the institution). Schools differ in many aspects: research intensive with graduate education and/or residency education vs a focus on PharmD professional education, public vs private, functioning in an academic health center environment, having several campuses to oversee, etc. Certainly, a baseline understanding of pharmacy education, the pharmacy profession, and research are important for all candidates. However, one does not need clinical experience to gain sufficient knowledge of the profession, and candidates can understand the research mission without being an outstanding researcher. Guidance to search committees about the qualifications that are most important to that school will help ensure that searches are focused on the most important traits, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.
Mentors can help candidates plan experiences and training to fit the schools in which they are interested such as engaging in national programs that teach leadership and management. They can urge mentees to apply when a suitable position becomes available. Mentors may help mentees identify role models (especially female role models) at their institution who match their strengths. Another role of the mentor is to include the mentee in an expansive range of experiences that a dean undertakes, even if they fall outside the candidate’s current responsibilities. Talking with provosts and presidents/chancellors, sitting in on decision-making meetings, working with potential donors and professional organizations will all expand the candidate’s preparation. A well-prepared candidate is much more likely to project the confidence needed to impress a search committee.
The AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP), with the professional goal of preparing faculty for a wide variety of intermediate leadership positions, has graduated 468 fellows and 53% were female (as of December 31, 2020). 35 It seems most appropriate that AACP consider creating an advanced leadership program that would build upon the ALFP. It could include topics that are not covered in the ALFP but essential for a CEO dean to know, such as development, financial management, higher education issues, academic issues, and many others. Perhaps there should be tracks developed within the ALFP that develop fellows for a variety of leadership positions. While funding such a program is certainly an issue in these difficult financial times, it seems possible that funding may be available from search firms that struggle to fill deanships or from companies which hold a stake in having outstanding leadership in our schools. Other mechanisms for developing mentors for both interim deans and aspiring deans should be investigated, including a mentor program similar to that developed by the AACP Women Faculty Special Interest Group. Limitations to this study may include inadvertent errors in collecting data despite multiple efforts to ensure accuracy.
CONCLUSION
Pharmacy education should cultivate its future CEO deans. To have sufficient talent and diversity among those who may seek leadership positions, both women and men of diverse races and ethnicities must be equally recruited, prepared, and encouraged to apply for available positions. We know from our data that the percentage of open positions being filled by women is declining. Barriers to entry should be examined and addressed. It is likely that mentorship is a key element in the identification of future deans and their preparation, but AACP can play a key role with an ALFP-like program or tracks specifically aimed at those from various backgrounds who are interested in pursuing CEO deanships or other positions in higher education administration.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge Metta Lou Henderson and Susan Meyer for feedback on article content, Lucinda Maine and AACP for information and verification, and Barbara Wells for manuscript review.
Appendix
Women CEO Deans of Accredited US Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy Through December 2020.a
Appendix 2. Interviews With Three Women CEO Deans Who Hit the “Glass Ceiling”
The qualitative part of this research included interviews with three women who were asked to describe circumstances where they hit the glass ceiling. Each woman was asked the same questions: how did she prepare to become a dean, what were her accomplishments and challenges, and what advice would she give to other women. These interviews highlight some of the unique challenges women face as CEO deans.
Ilia Oquendo Jimenez (University of Puerto Rico)
I didn’t prepare to become a dean. My roots were in pharmacology, and I was surprised when I was asked to be an associate dean, but it was an excellent route to a deanship. It helped me match my interests and background. Thus, I channeled my research abilities toward programs that provided opportunities and resources for faculty and students as a vital component of an academic institution. I saw myself as a facilitator for academic excellence through research and service.
Some of the challenges: I was superb at multitasking when I was dean. I had to be! I had three teenagers – a boy and two girls. I was very organized and being a mom was #1. Multitasking and organization are lifestyles! I would get home from work, make sure the girls started piano practice while I started dinner and put on my jogging shoes. When I got home from jogging, dinner was ready!
The turnover of chancellors at the University of Puerto Rico was challenging. I had 12 chancellors in 14 years. I was constantly trying to educate new people about what a school of pharmacy is. I had to work to have them get to know me, to understand and accept the mission of the School and its needs, and to appreciate changes in pharmacy education. You have to know how to fight for your school. The environment can be political, and some days I thought I would be out of the deanship. Sometimes you can be threatening when you are honest, not political, and fight courageously for your school. Financial resources were always a major challenge! During my entire tenure as dean, I had to defend the need of the School for a new building as well as permanent funds for implementing the PharmD program, among other needs. It was a constant challenge to convince every new administration that the building should be maintained as a priority in the University’s permanent physical improvement plan and the PharmD program a must. During my tenure, important and necessary programs were developed that paved the way for the School’s future growth.
Advice to Other Women: To me, the most important thing is to accept challenges without second guessing yourself. If you want to progress in your career, you have to face challenges and consider them opportunities to attain higher level positions. When an opportunity arises, it is important to consider your family, lifestyle, and organizational skills in the right perspective. We may have doubts, but you have to trust yourself. We are the ones who frequently limit our potential as women and professionals. Excuses will always emerge if we look for them. If you have self-confidence in your intelligence and abilities, you will have a successful life journey.
Barbara Wells (Idaho State University and University of Mississippi)
There are many good ways to prepare for academic leadership. I became involved early-on with various committees and task forces. This can occur within your department, college, university, practice site, or within national or state professional or scientific associations. Over time, I assumed increasing responsibilities on those committees, and eventually ran for elected posts. I sometimes volunteered to work with senior people from whom I knew I could learn to develop new programs or solve complex problems. I had the good fortune of becoming a vice chair and then department chair. Department chairs have most of the same responsibilities that deans have, but on a smaller scale and often without fundraising responsibilities. I have always felt that serving as department chair is the best preparation for becoming a dean, but clearly, there are many good avenues one can take.
I considered leaving pharmacy academics once mid-career. I’m glad I didn’t. It was not an easy career; in fact, it was often fraught with stress and frustration. Often immense patience is required. There are always surprises when we move into leadership positions. Sometimes it’s surprising to see who steps up and shows commitment to make the college better. And these can be the best surprises of all. Sometimes leadership and courage come from the most unexpected places. The most gratifying part of deaning is helping others (eg, faculty, students, and staff) be successful and bloom in areas of their strengths.
Advice to Other Women: I would advise junior faculty who are on a tenure track to always be mindful of the requirements for tenure. Be sure you understand them, and talk regularly to your chair about your progress. Make certain you have one or more mentors throughout your career. Usually, more than one is needed. Be sure to protect some of your time to work toward your own development and have a dynamic personal strategic plan. Refer to it frequently to update and assess your progress. Earning trust is requisite for leaders. Trust is the coin of the realm in the leadership world. Leaders only lose their credibility once. Being a dean is often fraught with stress and frustration. Often immense patience, negotiation, and courage are required, but I can’t imagine having a more gratifying career.
Arcelia Johnson-Fannin (Hampton University and University of the Incarnate Word)
I was working at Florida A&M (FAMU) and received a call from Hampton University to inform me that I was on the short list for the deanship to start their new pharmacy program. At that time, people doubted that Hampton could actually start a school of pharmacy because it wasn’t in their culture/mission at that time. I didn’t want to be a dean, especially at a new school. I told them no. But as time went on it appeared more attractive. I had been at FAMU long enough, and I had successfully completed a wide variety of projects/responsibilities. These experiences prepared me to become a dean and afforded a firm foundation in administration. To prepare for my interview, I did much research. I called friends to obtain ideas about starting a new school. I wanted to know exactly what would be needed in terms of resources to begin a program – everything from personnel requirements, curricular development and resources for a building. With careful planning in hand, Hampton gave me everything I asked for “carte blanche.”
My #1 accomplishment is undoubtedly my students and graduates. I am incredibly proud of them and what they have achieved.
Several things stood out as surprises. In becoming dean, I needed to learn how to smile, finesses and maneuver the political terrain. Those were things that were new. I quickly realized I was likely to be “overlooked” in professional settings because I was a woman. For example, there was an event at a national meeting where all the male deans were introduced. But I wasn’t. So, I went up to the mike and introduced myself as a dean. By being excluded, I concluded that I wasn’t respected as a woman. I wanted them to know the School of Pharmacy was there, and I am a woman, and both demanded respect. Additionally, I learned that women are often called to do grunt work – because they know you will do it and do it well.
There are many challenges such as when you discover administrators lack knowledge and facts to make decisions and do not, for example, appreciate/understand that there are cost differences between general education and a pharmacy program. That was when I decided to leave Hampton, hoping that the University would respond more positively to a different dean. I resigned from Hampton without the comfort of having a job in hand. You have to have courage. I was fortunate to secure the deanship at the University of Incarnate Word, where I enjoyed a wonderful career. But you have to have courage.
Advice to Other Women: Find a mentor. A good mentor will talk out problems and push you. And if you fail, as long as you did your best, it’s ok if you fail. Trust yourself and trust your gut. The fear factor is big for women. Don’t take a job when people say you are ready, take it before that. Know when to leave, and don’t be afraid to do so. Commit to lifelong learning. Being a dean evolves. Over time you will build confidence and the ability to project yourself. Love what you do. Now you may be called crazy/nuts, but it’s ok. It could be that you are just a visionary.
- Received June 22, 2021.
- Accepted December 7, 2021.
- © 2022 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
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