Changing of the Guard - Full Time Faculty Samuel Merritt University Employee Review

Leadership has been in transition since 2018 and has departed from traditional mission of educating health care providers providing direct service . New emphases on non-clinical programs and research, most likely as a strategy to help fund an expensive new facility being planned for downtown Oakland, even as they move away from in-person to online programs. Enrollments are currently down, possibly due to word on the street about poor staffing, difficulty finding clinical placements, especially for advanced practice nursing programs. Very few (if any) tenured or full professor positions; minimal support for professional development for clinicians; rank and promotion process and support are poorly defined and unevenly applied. Same applies to calculation of teaching loads and requirements for "scholarship and service" required for promotion. Morale among younger faculty slightly better than more experienced/jaded professors.