Development of clinician-educator faculty track at the University of Pennsylvania.

As resources grow scarcer , universities have become reluctant to increase the long-term institutional commitments involved in faculty appointments with tenure. The restrict tenured appointments, universities in recent years have adopted more stringent criteria for approving them and in many cases have set a limit on the number of new appointments and promotions with tenure. The educational and service missions of the medical school, however, necessitate a large cadre of clinical faculty members. The establishment and evolution of the clinician-educator faculty track at the University of Pennsylvania provide a case study of a process taking place in many medical schools to meet the need for nontenured full-time faculty appointments.