President’s Forum
Why Don’t Fellows Know What We are About? Richard E. Jones, DDS, MSD, FACD President of the American College of Dentists
T
he American College of Dentists was created and served by a small cadre of resolute visionaries for several decades. By the 1960’s, the US and dentistry were in a golden age. The Fellowship had grown, professionalism and mentorship were paradigms, and few challenges were noticed. The College evolved from a visionary action body to more of an honorary organization. The honorific paradigm persists in many corners of the Fellowship and minds of non-Fellows. Pomp and circumstance is the appropriate honor for new Fellows and it sends a clear message: it is a great honor to be a Fellow of the College. Since Fellows are rarely asked to serve unless they are elected to College leadership, the rest of the “take away” from the Convocation is STOP, you have been honored for past work and no further activity or contribution is necessary. Those who are granted the privilege and opportunity for elected leadership at the Section or even the national level will appreciate the great significance of the American College of Dentists as the visionary action body of the profession. Current visionary activities are significant but still performed only by a small cadre of leaders: the Officers, Board of Regents, and Section officers supported by the Executive Office. The College leadership interacts with the
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leadership of other organizations. The activity is generally appreciated only by that small group. An example is the sponsorship of four Ethics Summits that included representatives from 65 diverse dental organizations including everyone from auxiliaries to manufacturers and third-party providers. Topics such as Truth Claims and Commercialism were discussed on a platform of ethics and what improved oral health. The College method of operation has typically been to identify a problem and to activate the appropriate group. There has not been a pattern of “seeking the headline”. Most dentists are unaware of the American College of Dentists and even many Fellows understand the College as an honorary organization with minimal impact. This dissonance is more apparent with our most valuable asset—the younger Fellows, as they are motivated for action and relevance and not accolades. The College invites all of dentistry under our umbrella and includes the mission essential affiliates: SPEA, the Student Professionalism & Ethics Association that develops leaders for our future, ASDE, the American Society for Dental Ethics that provides ethical guidance, and AADEJ, the American Association of Dental Editors and Journalists that helps us communicate, provides knowledge, and makes us think. All three of these groups are
accepting new members interested in expanding expertise in their areas of interest. I encourage you to join and support them. An especially important action arm of the College is the American College of Dentists Foundation. The Foundation has more than 20 active programs that target mission-centered projects such as 16 ethics dilemma teaching videos, the ACD Ethics Handbook, 42 hours of online ethics courses, ethics and leadership scholarships, and many Section projects. If we are to enhance excellence, ethics, professionalism, and leadership, it is critical that what we are about is known to our Fellowship, the population of dentists, government, and society. A marketing campaign to “toot our own horn” is unnecessary but an intentional and strategic public information outreach program to all significant parties is necessary for crucial initiatives to be optimally effective. This strategic outreach must include ambassadors at the national level (the Officers, Board of Regents, and Executive Office), the Regency level, and the Section level. (Section Officers and Committees). We must remind ourselves “if not you, then who” and that all Fellows must be ambassadors of the College Mission. The activity of the ambassadors must be intentional, directed, and empowered. I call upon all Fellows to participate.
