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The appropriateness of term limits for administrative appointments is a subject of much discussion, not just within pharmacy programs, but in organizations of all types. The prospect of term limits for involves a wide variety of important organizational issues, including succession planning, institutional memory, strategic decision-making, and concepts regarding leadership styles overall. This paper examines both sides of the debate regarding the appropriateness of term limits for administrative appointments. Arguments supporting term limits include the ability for strategic changes in the diversity of leaders as well as a more focused effort on continuous quality improvement. The arguments against term limits focus around the need for stability and the time involved in the development of effective leaders.

To determine faculty and administrator perceptions about appropriate behavior in social interactions between pharmacy students and faculty members.Four private and 2 public colleges and schools of pharmacy conducted focus groups of faculty members and interviews with administrators. Three scenarios describing social interactions between faculty members and students were used. For each scenario, participants reported whether the faculty member's behavior was appropriate and provided reasons for their opinions.Forty-four percent of those surveyed or interviewed considered interactions between faculty members and pharmacy students at a bar to be a boundary violation. Administrators were more likely than faculty members to consider discussing other faculty members with a student to be a boundary violation (82% vs. 46%, respectively, P0.009). A majority (87%) of faculty members and administrators considered "friending" students on Facebook a boundary violation.There was no clear consensus about whether socializing with students at a bar was a boundary violation. In general, study participants agreed that faculty members should not initiate friendships with current students on social networks but that taking a student employee to lunch was acceptable.

The objective of this paper was to apply Kotter's 8 steps to transforming organizations as a framework for the role of assessment in competency-based curricular reform. Two analyses were conducted including (1) environmental scan of literature about assessment in curricular reform and (2) qualitative analyses of data from a college of pharmacy which instituted curricular reform. These assessment-focused data sources were interpreted in view of Kotter's 8 steps. Creating a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating a vision and creating short-term wins were the 4 steps most evident in the literature. In the case study, creating a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements, and producing additional change were most important. The case study also indicated that (a) the history or climate of the institution in dealing with change, and (b) involving individuals with specific expertise as part of the leadership group were also important. Recommendations (PREPARE) were developed. Assessment is an enabling and valuable element in each stage of curricular transformation when guided by Kotter's model.