Journal of medical education
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Tradition has restricted the range of members on medical school admissions committees to medical school faculties. To test whether diversity among members of admissions committees may be as desirable as diversity among students, the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) sponsored a simulated admissions conference. The conference offered nonmedical professionals opportunities to critique the admissions process, to suggest new approaches, and to participate a simulated admissions procedure. ⋯ The simulated admissions committee declared that undergraduate college grades and scores on the Medical College Admission Test were of subordinate significance to humanistic and philosophic values. However, when actually selecting from facsimile applications, the conferees placed greater emphasis on quantifiable data than they had expected. The conference emphasized the desirability of the cross-fertilization of ideas between nontraditional members and the actual admissions committee.
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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.