President’s Forum

The Sections and the Connectional Basis of the College

Richard E. Jones, DDS, MSD, FACD President of the American College of Dentists

ACD Sections are the core of the College. No matter how brilliant the Board or how hard working the Staff, it is the Section leadership that innovates and oversees the implementation of College initiatives and advances the Mission on the ground level. Many Sections have elected leaders that remain active in leadership for many years after the term of their elected position. They are the knowledgeable authorities of their Sections, Fellows, and of their SPEA programs. The Sections connect the Fellows to one another and to the national organization.

Many people know the Officers and Executive Director of the College because they have been noticed for activity and contribution. Some know what the College does because they have been actively involved as elected officials or through other interaction. Few appreciate how the College functions. Two unique characteristics impact the effectiveness of the College. The College is mission based while many dental organizations are transactional, and our organizational system is connectional. Our connectional structure has enabled the College to continue as the conscience of dentistry after a century of challenges. Considering the nature of the new challenges and that the efforts to enhance excellence, ethics, professionalism, and leadership are for all of dentistry, one could argue that the American College of Dentists is the most critical of dental organizations.

Supporting the Sections is the governing Board of Regents, which is a body of five officers, eight elected Regents representing geographic regions, and up to four At Large Regents representing areas such as military dentistry, the dental industry, and dental education. The Board also includes liaisons from our affiliates: SPEA, ASDE, AADEJ. Because of the selection process, the Board is a diverse blend of exceptional talent and dedication spanning the breadth and depth of the profession. The unique key to a century of creating and enhancing the profession is the purely missionbased approach to Board initiatives that creates an exceptional degree of collaborative thinking and working. The effort is supported by two live meetings of the Board of Regents, four virtual Board meetings, and meetings of task force and standing committees. Perhaps the most important activity is the work of the eight elected Regents who engage and empower their Sections.

The Executive Office Staff currently consists of six full time and two parttime members. This competent group is committed to the non-profit Mission. They facilitate the effectiveness of the leaders and Fellows by providing administrative and creative support in areas that include communication, finance, logistics, meeting planning, historical context, membership, publications, working with SPEA, and Fundamentally, all of us, regardless of offices held or accolades awarded, are Fellows. We are the 7800 professionals comprising a small part of dentistry that have been recognized for ability, dedication, service, leadership, and achievement. That mass of competence represents the greatest potential for the College initiatives. Collectively, through our Sections, we have the best ideas and the greatest influence.

anything else the Sections, Fellows, and Board members require. Perhaps the most important function of the Executive Office is connecting the Staff, and Board of Regents with the Sections and the Fellows.

Fundamentally, all of us, regardless of offices held or accolades awarded, are Fellows. We are the 7800 professionals comprising a small part of dentistry

“No man is an island, entire of itself.”

– John Donne

that have been recognized for ability, dedication, service, leadership, and achievement. That mass of competence represents the greatest potential for the College initiatives. Collectively, through our Sections, we have the best ideas and the greatest influence. The potential is unleashed when we are empowered and connected to the Section leadership, the Staff, and the Board of Regents. This connectional basis of structure is the functional strength of the College. The Board and Staff enable the Sections to be autonomous within the Mission and basic structure of the ACD. This allows a Section to implement initiatives that are relevant to their particular situation and the needs of their local community.

This connectional relationship has a weakness common to autonomy. That weakness is the waiting for directives from the central body. The Board and Staff can provide ideas and support, but they cannot know the Fellows on the Section level or fully appreciate the unique environment of the Section. It is up to the Sections to create Mission-based activity that enhance the profession in their area. It is up to each Fellow to seek the opportunity to have impact on the profession. Neither the Fellow nor Section should wait to be asked but should step forward to lead and to contribute. It will take group connectional action and initiation on the individual Fellow level to confront the challenges of the profession.

The American College of Dentists has completed an impactful century as the visionary of the profession because it is Mission-based and because of its unique functionality. The College is not defined by a central hierarchy or by the fluid autonomy of its structure. The College is defined by the connections between Fellows and groups of Fellows. It is those interpersonal relationships that are the essence of the College and its century of impact.

This issue of the ACD News highlights the work of the ACD Foundation. Founded in 1972, the Foundation provides the financial resources needed to fund the College’s mission-driven initiatives. Money, however, is not our only resource. The connectedness of the ACD Fellows through their Sections, fostered by the Board and Staff, is undoubtedly our greatest asset and a source of strength and stability for the profession.

If not you, then who?

The ACD Welcomes the AADEJ

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Drs. Gies and Midgley were early leaders of the College and were present at the first official meeting of the American Association of Dental Editors in January 1932.

Brandhorst, Otto W. (1970). American College of Dentists History: The First 50 Years. American College of Dentists.