M Dentistry - Fall 2022 by M Dentistry

For the University of Michigan School of Dentistry Community | Fall 2022

Blue Renewed!

School celebrates completion of major renovation and addition that advances its mission

Dea n ’ s Message

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Greetings to all of you in my role as Interim Dean of the School of Dentistry, an appointment that was announced shortly after our Spring 2022 alumni magazine was printed last May. My message in this edition marks the first time since the Fall 2013 magazine that someone other than Dean Laurie McCauley has updated you from this space. As we reported in the spring magazine, Dr. McCauley is now Provost of the University of Michigan. A search committee appointed by Provost McCauley has begun work on recommending a new dean for our school. (See story on Page 11.)

I know from my experience with multiple departments since coming to the dental school in 2002, including most recently as chair of the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics, that we have an incredibly strong team of faculty and staff who will stay focused on our mission during the transition to a new dean.

As I have talked with students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends in recent months, I have often noted that this is our 147th year of educating students and the process remains a remarkable mix of the constant and the ever-changing. Whatever change was demanded in the various eras over the long history of our school, this community has always adjusted, pushed forward and advanced dentistry, dental education and research. It is what leaders do. Another change is the subject of our cover story in this edition, which focuses on the open house and celebration we held in September to cap the completion of our major Blue Renew renovation and addition. Planned for more than a decade, the work was completed in sections over four years as we continued our education and research mission amid the construction. It has revitalized not only our physical spaces – the clinics, labs and offices – but also the atmo sphere in which we conduct our mission. The fresh look of the new design makes it seem that we have an entirely new school.

We continue to use every opportunity to thank our generous alumni and corporate partners who supported the Blue Renew project with financial and in-kind contributions to ensure that today’s students continue to have the best facilities and resources. Your contributions have helped position our school to continue to be the leader and the best. For that, we are extremely grateful.

Sincerely,

Jan Hu, Interim Dean Samuel D. Harris Collegiate Professor of Dentistry

Fall 2022

Volume 38, Number 2

M Dentistry is published twice a year for alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of the School of Dentistry. See the school website at www.dent.umich.edu for more news and features.

Interim Dean …Jan Hu

Director of Marketing & Communications Raymond Aldrich Writer/Editor Lynn Monson

Graphic Designer Ken Rieger

Photographers

Leisa Thompson, Melissa Squires, Celia Alcumbrack, Lynn Monson, Ken Rieger

University of Michigan School of Dentistry

Alumni Society Board of Governors:

Terms Expire Fall 2023:

Karen Beckerman, BSDH ‘95, Plymouth, Mich.

Jake DeSnyder, DDS '67, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

William Mason, DDS '81, MS '84, Saginaw, Mich.

Michael Palaszek, DDS '82, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Michelle Velez, BSDH ‘98, Royal Oak, Mich.

Lisa Wendling, DDS ‘93, MS ‘96, New Lothrop, Mich.

Terms Expire Fall 2024:

Chair Elect : Michael Behnan, MS ‘79, Rochester Hills, Mich.

Theresa Hull, BSDH ‘11, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sara Kellogg, DDS ‘07, Saline, Mich.

Amin Jaffer, DDS ’97, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Mona Riaz, BSDH ’12, MS ‘20, Farmington Hills, Mich.

Riley Schaff, DDS ’17, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Terms Expire Fall 2025:

Chair: Janice Pilon, DDS ’93, Hanover, N.H.

Debra Lisull, DH Cert ' 74, BSDH '79, DDS '83, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Julie Thomas, DDS '89, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Allan Padbury, Jr, DDS '99, MS '02 MS, Jackson, Mich.

Jennifer Cullen, BSDH '12, Ypsilanti, Mich.

Brittany Forga, BSDH '10, Van Buren Township, Mich.

Ex Officio Members: Jan Hu, Interim Dean Carrie Towns, Chief Development Officer, Alumni Relations and Development

The Regents of the University:

Jordan A. Acker, Michael J. Behm, Mark J. Bernstein, Paul W. Brown, Sarah Hubbard, Denise Ilitch, Ron Weiser, Katherine E. White, Santa J. Ono (ex officio)

Send comments and updates to: dentistry.communications@umich.edu or Communications, School of Dentistry, 1011 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078

The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, (734) 763-0235, TTY (734) 647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call (734) 764-1817.

ON THE COVER

FEATURES

SCHOOL

In this Issue 2 11 22

DENTAL HYGIENE

The glass wall of the new four-story addition in the School of Dentistry courtyard provides a striking new backdrop on an early fall evening. The new addition houses two floors of research labs, along with student meeting space, offices and equipment for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The school’s iconic “Tooth Fairy” sculpture, first installed in the original courtyard in 1971, remains the centerpiece of the new smaller courtyard.

FACULTY RESEARCH

STUDENTS

25 28 17 20

ALUMNI

School’s Major Renovation Marks

The newly renovated and expanded University of Michigan School of Dentistry was a popular destination for members of the public and the university community on Friday, Sept. 16, during an open house and ceremony celebrating the completion of the major building project.

Dental school organizers estimated that more than 1,000 people toured the school during the two-hour open house Friday afternoon, with about 250 people joining school and university leaders for the ribboncutting program that followed.

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and U-M Provost Laurie McCauley, the former dean of the dental school, joined the school’s interim dean, Jan Hu, in recognizing the impor tance of the first major renovation of the dental school in nearly 50 years. Speakers praised the foresight and commitment of school and

university leaders and staff who spent more than a decade planning the $140 million project, called Blue Renew. Construction workers and the school’s students, faculty and staff also were applauded for their flexibility and resilience in completing the project on the original timetable despite the myriad difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived halfway through the four-year construction schedule.

President Coleman noted the dental school’s longstanding commit ment to improving public health by educating dentists and dental hygienists who provide high-quality healthcare to patients throughout the state of Michigan. About 160,000 dental appointments are held within the school each year and thousands more are completed around the state when dental students travel to more than a dozen clinics as

2 M Dentistry | Fall 2022 FEATURES FEATURES

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman addresses the audience during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Marks Start of New Era

part of the school’s Community-Based Collaborative Care and Educa tion curriculum. Last year, students and faculty treated patients from 82 of the state’s 83 counties.

The renovation not only improves patient care, Coleman said, but it advances scientific research as well. The school has in recent years led the nation’s dental schools in research grants from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in areas such as prevent ing caries in children, treating head and neck cancer, and regenerat ing damaged or diseased dental, oral and craniofacial tissue. “This cutting-edge work by faculty and students, including undergraduates, helps position us as a leading research university that addresses the most-pressing medical needs in our nation,” Coleman said.

Provost McCauley, who served as dean of the dental school from 2013 until earlier this year when she was appointed provost, called Blue Renew a milestone that will be forever marked in the long and impressive history of the school, which was founded in 1875.

“We are proud that today the University of Michigan School of Dentistry represents the citizens of Michigan as a top dental school not only in the nation but in the world,” McCauley said. “We take great satisfaction in knowing that we have educated nearly 13,000 dentists, more than 3,500 hygienists and thousands of graduate students who have chosen to improve the oral and overall health of millions of patients in Michigan, across the country and around the world.”

Fall 2022 | M Dentistry FEATURES 3

Continued

McCauley noted that the first official renovation request to the university was 14 years ago, in 2008, when a capital needs assessment was submitted to the Provost’s office during the tenure of the former dean, Peter Polverini. McCauley then led the project when she became dean.

“With these new facilities, I envision the future with hundreds of thousands of patients from all walks of life who will be served here and the thousands of students who will be educated here and go on to take care of literally millions of patients,” McCauley said. “In order to optimize this vision, we studied innovative ways to teach students about changing technologies and new dental procedures. A strong scientific foundation and built-in flexibility were key. We highlighted collaborative research and how many disciplines have evolved into vibrant communities of contemporary shared science.”

McCauley said the history of the School of Dentistry shows that its leaders have never wanted it to be just another dental school. “Even before the term ‘Leaders and Best’ was coined for the university’s athletic fight song, the founders and first professors here aspired to lead the profession of dentistry and provide the best dental care possible,” she said. “We continue that mission today. Blue Renew re-launches us, advancing and strengthening our students, faculty, staff and patients with even greater resources for our mission of advancing health through education, service, research and discovery.”

FEATURES M Dentistry | Fall 2022 4 School’s Major Renovation Marks Start of New Era (Continued)

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman (right) offers a “Go Blue!” cheer with U-M Provost Laurie McCauley (center) and School of Dentistry Interim Dean Jan Hu after the trio cut a ceremonial ribbon. U-M Provost Laurie McCauley gets a congratulatory hug from alumnus Dr. Dan Balbach (DDS 1961, MS 1965) after the ribbon-cutting.

What's New?

Blue Renew addressed a wide variety of needs. About half the existing facility was renovated and approximately 48,000 square feet was added by building a four-story addition in the former courtyard. Here’s a summary of what was accomplished:

New Entrances: The school’s north entrance, nearest the Fletcher Parking Structure, was redesigned with a covered, drive-through access that leads directly into a much-improved patient registration area. The design’s improved wayfinding signage, pathways and eleva tors allow patients to more easily navigate to their appointments and waiting areas for predoctoral, specialty and faculty clinics throughout the building. Patients can still enter the building’s south entrance on North University Avenue, with the new floor plan more easily guiding them to the main registration area at the north entrance.

Clinic Improvements: Outdated clinical space was redesigned with larger, improved operatories that have the latest technological advances in dental equipment, including digital imaging. All clinical spaces were designed to enhance current trends in interprofessional treatment, which involves health care providers from many disciplines contributing to the treatment of patients. A unique clinic for special needs patients was funded with a gift from the Delta Dental Founda tion. The clinic provides specialized equipment and practices to serve patients with a wide variety of physical and mental limitations, such as developmental disabilities, cognitive impairments, blindness or hearing loss, stress disorders related to military service or vulnerable conditions unique to the elderly.

Advancing Dental Education: Many of the benefits for patients are also benefits for students, faculty and staff, particularly the larger dental operatories and new dental equipment. Centralized equipment dispensaries and sterilization services will help students provide more efficient patient care, as will the revised design of the clinic areas. Technology improvements include operatories with video capability for creating instructional videos. Student study spaces and meeting areas were also upgraded. The school’s former library was converted to a Faculty Commons with new offices and meeting space.

New Research Labs: Two floors of the new four-story building in the courtyard are dedicated to labs that expand research capacity beyond the existing five floors of the Research Tower. The new labs are configured with a more open design than traditional labs in order to facilitate collaboration among faculty, students and research personnel. Graduate students, research assistants and faculty have more common areas – conference rooms, write-up spaces and break areas – where they can easily meet to discuss existing projects and inspire new ideas.

Utilities Improvements: Major upgrades of the heating, air condi tioning and ventilation needs of the school are part of the project.

For more information and details on Blue Renew and the Showcase celebration, go the School of Dentistry’s website at https://dent.umich.edu

1 Dr. Suman Vij (left), a clinical assistant professor, talks with fourth-year student Caleb Rainey about his patient’s treatment plan in one of the school’s newly renovated clinics.

2. DDS students treat a patient in a new clinic.

3. Dr. Stephanie Munz, the Dr. Walter H. Swartz Endowed Professor of Integrated Special Care Dentistry, shows a wheelchair lift to a visitor touring the school during the Blue Renew Showcase. The lift is located in the Delta Dental Integrated Special Care Clinic.

4. A new laboratory in the school’s Research Commons.

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Giving Credit for Success

Former Dean Laurie McCauley, who led the project to completion over the last nine years, told the audience at the Showcase event that such a large project requires a very large team of people, from the very first step of planning to the final construction task. “The fact that we are celebrating the completion of Blue Renew today, exactly as the original timetable called for, is a remarkable testament to the skills, commitment, resilience and patience of many, many people,” she said.

Among those who deserve applause, McCauley named several key contributors:

• Chief of Staff Erica Hanss was the dental school’s coordinator for all things Blue Renew. She was involved in more meetings, conversations and decisions than any other person at the school as she worked with both internal commit tees and external partners. She navigated myriad details, big and small, from floor plans and space allocation to carpet colors and construction changes necessitated by COVID-19 complications. Students, faculty and staff depended on her regular “Blue Renew Updates” via schoolwide email to keep track of how construction was progressing through the building and what was next. Her first update went out on

Oct. 12, 2018, and 37 more followed, with the final one on July 1, 2022.

• Facilities Director Mike Folk and Facilities Coordinator Mary Ann Gietek coordinated the many moves that faculty and staff had to make over the four years as construction moved around to different parts of the building. Making sure the building remained operational throughout was their challenge.

• Faculty, staff and students logged count less hours of committee work, coordina tion, changes and pandemic-related work-arounds. They endured constant construction noise for four years and were asked to move temporarily to new offices, classrooms or clinics, sometimes multiple times, as construction advanced through the building.

• The university’s team from Architecture, Engineering and Construction, particularly lead design manager Ken Clein and, during construction, Ken Silverman, were tireless collaborators.

• Architects and designers, including a team at SmithGroup, brought world-class expertise to the project.

• Construction management from Granger Construction turned the architectural plans and phased timeline into a reality, finishing on the projected timeline despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The U-M Office of Government Relations and former vice president Cynthia Wilbanks advocated for the project in the early stages.

• Hank Baier, U-M’s Associate Vice President for Facilities and Operations, provided valuable guidance throughout the process.

“Erica Hanss, the school’s chief of staff, has been absolutely central to the project, helping to shepherd it through 26 phases to completion with determination, grace and great taste.”

• The U-M Provost’s Office, and particularly former provost Martha Pollack, committed significant university resources that were approved by the U-M Board of Regents.

• The Michigan Legislature, Governor’s Office and the state’s taxpayers provided the public funds that were used as part of the revenue to pay for the project.

• School of Dentistry alumni and corporate partners made financial and in-kind gifts to help fund the cost of the project and ensure it was “comprehen sive, first-rate, and attainable.”

– Former Dean Laurie McCauley

6 FEATURES M Dentistry | Fall 2022

Smiles and greetings between old friends were ubiquitous among alumni and friends of the School of Dentistry during the Blue Renew Showcase activities. Here’s a sampling from the day, identified by photo number. 1. Lisa Tedesco, a former dental professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Dentistry in the 1990s, with Dr. Darnell Kaigler, Sr., (MS 1986) and his wife Shirley. 2. Dr. Lawrence Marcotte (DDS 1967, MS 1972) congratulates Dean Laurie McCauley. 3. Dr. Jeffrey Porter (DDS 1968) and his wife Nancy.

4. Dr. Lisa Sostecke, (DDS 1978) and Alan Rumbaugh. 5. Dr. Josef Kolling (DDS 1981, MS 1984), seated, and Dr. Scott Hodges (DDS 1986, MS 1991).

6. The Daniels family was represented by, from left, Michael Daniels, his fiancee Kendra Mantz, and his parents Kelly and Allan Daniels. 7. From left: Dr. Brandon Jankowski (DDS 2017) his parents Janet and Dr. Richard Jankowski (DDS 1976), and Dr. Martin Tuck (DDS 1977 DDS, 1980 MS). 8. Class of 1978 classmates Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk and Dr. Douglas Peebles.

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School Thanks Alumni and Friends

The School of Dentistry concluded its Blue Renew Showcase celebration with a reception to acknowledge alumni and friends of the dental school who made financial leadership and in-kind gifts to the project. Interim Dean Jan Hu and Provost and former Dean Laurie McCauley spoke at the event, as did Carrie Towns, the school’s Chief Development Officer. Dr. Stephen Stefanac, a retired faculty member, gave a summary of the goals, new designs and latest equipment that were incorporated as clinics were renovated for Blue Renew.

From the outset of Blue Renew, Hu said, alumni and friends were generous in supporting the project. “Alumni from coast to coast wanted to give back to ensure that today’s students continue to have the best facilities, the best resources and the best faculty – just as they had experienced when they received their training here,” Hu said. “Their vision has been achieved with this wonderful renovation and expansion.”

Towns reinforced the importance of the school’s loyal and generous alumni and donors. “Thank you for your on-going commitment to the dental school and believing in what we do here to change the world – through educating the next generation of the dental profes sion, advancing research and unlocking new approaches to therapies and treatment, and serving our community with much-needed oral healthcare. For all the impact you have made, thank you.”

McCauley shared several donor stories as a small sample of the devotion among the school’s accomplished alumni who continue to support the school for years and decades after their education. “I want to say how impressed I am with the engagement and loyalty of our alumni and friends of the school,” McCauley said. “As dean and now provost, I continually find people who believe in advancing excel lence in dentistry through our school. Your camaraderie and support for your alma mater inspires me and make me optimistic about the future of the school.”

Drs. Scott Schulz, an orthodontist in Traverse City, Mich., and Gary Scott, a general dentist in Caledonia, Mich., became good friends in the DDS Class of 1996 thanks to the school’s longstanding tradition of assigning student seats alphabetically by last name. “Because his last name was s-c-h and mine was s-c-o, we sat next to each other for two years in preclinic,” Gary explains. “The third year we weren’t really assigned, but then again the fourth year I sat next to him every day. We had a really good friendship. My wife Nicole used to cut his hair.”

The two haven’t kept in touch over the years as much as they would like, but they came up with a novel and appropriate idea when they learned that the dental school was raising funds to support Blue Renew, Gary said. “We were talking with Carrie Towns and it just worked out. We said, hey, it would be cool if we could have our

cubicles next to each other.” Towns thought it was a great idea and made it happen. Patients entering the firstfloor West Victors Clinic will find the two doctors’ donor nameplates on adjacent cubicles Nos. 20 and 22 just to the left of the clinic entrance.

Scott Schulz, who returned to the dental school to add an MS in orthodontics in 2003, said he feels blessed by the quality education he received. “While at Michigan, my instructors and classes were worldclass, but our clinic facilities needed some updating to stay current with the private sector. When we heard about the project, my wife Kara and I were excited to be able to donate a cubicle to ensure our dental students have the best clinical training possible. Training with quality equipment allows the students to focus on the patient and advance their skills rapidly. The renovation is amazing, and I am proud to be part of it.”

The Lee brothers – Bruce (DDS 1987), left, and William (DDS 1980) – say their reason for funding a cubicle together is simple: “We contributed to support the renovation of the School of Dentistry to help keep the school at the forefront of dentistry, and to ensure the best possible education for students, and the best possible experience for patients.” Their nameplate is on a cubicle in a first-floor DDS clinic. The Lees practice in Traverse City, Michigan.

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Here are a few examples of alumni and their reasons for financially supporting Blue Renew: Dr. Scott Schulz Dr. Gary Scott

One of Blue Renew’s goals was to improve the patient experience, in part by making it easier to enter the school, reach the proper waiting area and navigate to the correct clinic. A large reception area on the first floor just inside the new north entrance is now designated as the Dr. Richard A. and Rose Marie Shick Registration Area

The Shicks, who split their time between homes in Grand Blanc and Florida, attended the open house, ribbon-cutting and alumni reception, where former Dean Laurie McCauley thanked the couple for their significant financial support of the school, both for Blue Renew and previously.

Richard Shick earned his DDS in 1954 and his MS in periodontics in 1960. Over the many years he operated his Flint periodontal practice he was a leader in numerous professional dentistry organizations, including president of the Michigan Dental Association, First Vice President of the American Dental Association and President of the U.S.A. section of the International College of Dentists as well as International President of the organization. He was well known for a long-time interview segment about dentistry on a Detroit radio station. A fellow dentist once described Shick as “Mr. Dentistry in Michigan” because of his activism and commitment to the profession, which continues with this Blue Renew gift to his alma mater.

Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk of Ann Arbor, an alumna (DDS 1978, MPH 1982) and Professor Emerita of Dentistry and Assistant Dean Emerita for Student Services, asked a DDS classmate, Dr. Ron Stewart of Flint, to join her in honoring the memory of Dr. Lee Jones.

Their gift created the Dr. Lee W. Jones, Jr. Conference Room on the first floor. Jones (DDS 1961) was the first Black dentist to practice in Ann Arbor and returned to the school to be the first director of its diversity initiative that began in the 1970s.

Dr. Andrew Olsen (DDS 2010) is now part of the same oral surgery group in the Traverse City area where his father, Dr. Wayne Olsen (DDS 1981), practiced before he retired. The Olsens provided a gift to name an enclosed operatory in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic on the second floor. “Our families will be eternally grateful for the many opportuni ties to serve our profession and the lifelong friendships we have made. Our continued involvement and association with students rotating in our offices has been absolutely inspirational. Their enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to serving others demonstrates their place as leaders in our professional community. Enjoy the ‘new’ school and Go Blue!”

Woolfolk said three factors served as motivation for her gift. “First, after overseeing the admissions and enrollment management process for many years for the SOD, I knew the importance of having a first-class facility and state-of-the-art learning spaces in order to attract the most talented students. Second, I wanted to recognize and honor Dr. Jones, who helped not only me, but other students, especially students of color, along their journey of becoming a dentist. Third, in making a pledge to the Victors for Michigan Campaign in 2018, the timing seemed just right to punctuate the 40th anniversary of receiving my DDS degree. Being a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry prepared me well for a fulfilling career and continues to be a source of pride. I was delighted that my classmate, Dr. Ronald Stewart, partnered with me to fund this gift.”

Stewart was one of the speakers at a Celebration of Life event held for Jones at the dental school in August. Stewart and several other Black dentists recalled fondly that Jones had a can-do attitude that helped them make it through dental school. “Anytime you had a problem, whether it was related to dental school, your classes, your finances, and other problems, you’d go to Lee. And he would say, don’t worry about it, it’ll be alright… just go to class.” And later Jones would help them solve whatever problem they faced. “It wasn’t a job for him,” Stewart said. “I couldn’t think of anybody who didn’t love Lee.”

9 Fall 2022 | M Dentistry FEATURES Continued

Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk Dr. Ron Stewart

Faculty member and former dean Dr. Peter Polverini and his wife Carol of Ann Arbor made a lead gift to the school that is reflect ed in the name of the school’s beautiful new south entrance, now known as the Polverini Concourse. The large interior open space includes a distinctive, lighted “M Dentistry” logo that is visible through the glass façade for pedestrians and traffic along busy North University Avenue. Two large conference rooms with glass walls look out onto the plaza and an inviting entrance hallway guides people into the school.

During the time Polverini was dean, from 2003-13, the school submitted its first request, a Capital Needs Assessment in 2008, to the university and completed other early steps on what became a nearly 15-year path to completion.

“We decided to invest in the University of Michigan School of Dentistry for several reasons. First, the Dental School's innova tive educational program and commitment to scientific excellence add tremendous value to the local and global communi ties. Second, the school’s added value is reflected in its commitment to providing care to those in greatest need. Third, the school’s unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion further enriches the student educational experience. Lastly, the investment in recruiting the best faculty and students is the underpinnings of the dental school’s commitment to scientific discovery and innovation. It is here at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry where new knowledge is created for others to discover.”

10 FEATURES M Dentistry | Fall 2022

Thanks

(Continued)

School

Alumni and Friends

Naming opportunities for operatories and other locations are still available. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Development for more information by emailing SoDalumnirelations@umich.edu or by calling 734-763-3315

This south-facing view of the new courtyard merges the new and the original parts of the dental school complex. The windows of the new addition in the courtyard at left reflect the Tooth Fairy sculpture and the original building in the background at right.

Search for New Dean is Underway

A Search Advisory Committee is currently considering candidates for the next dean of the School of Dentistry. The committee will submit a slate of unranked candidates to the University of Michigan Provost, who will select the dean with the approval of the U-M Board of Regents.

The school’s former dean, Dr. Laurie McCauley, was named provost of the university last spring, so she will be in the unique position of overseeing the search for her successor. Based on input from the School of Dentistry community, McCauley named a 15-member search committee and

its chair, Dr. Margherita Fontana, the Clifford T. Nelson Endowed Professor of Dentistry in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics. The committee includes faculty, staff and alumni of the dental school, as well as members of the university community.

The committee met on Aug. 30 to receive its charge from Provost McCauley and is expected to submit its list of candidates to McCauley by spring 2023.

The committee, with assistance from execu tive search firm Isaacson, Miller, developed a profile and key issues for the dean’s role by

soliciting input from the School of Dentistry community, including alumni. The consul tant organized a school survey and held virtual open meetings to assess the school’s current strengths and weaknesses; priorities, challenges, and opportunities; and the key qualifications and attributes it should seek in a new dean.

More information about nominations, applications or other inquiries can be found at on the Isaacson, Miller website at www.imsearch.com/search-detail/8777.

Interim Dean Jan Hu Leads School Through Transition Period

Jan Ching Chun Hu, BDS, PhD, was appointed Interim Dean of the School of Dentistry in mid-May, shortly after the spring M Dentistry magazine was published.

Dr. Hu is the Samuel D. Harris Collegiate Professor of Dentistry and chair of the dental school’s Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics. She was appointed interim dean by former U-M Provost Susan Collins.

Collins noted Dr. Hu’s significant background at U-M and in higher educa tion. “She is a distinguished scholar and educator with years of experience as a faculty member, administrator and researcher,” Collins said. “She has a long and distinguished record of service to the university and the dental community. I am confident that the school will maintain its momentum during this interim period under her leadership.”

Dr. Hu received her BDS from National Taiwan University in 1985. She joined the

University of Southern California (USC) where she received a specialty certificate in pediatric dentistry in 1988 and earned her PhD in craniofacial biology in 1990. She was a clinical assistant professor and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in craniofacial molecular biology while at USC in 1990. She joined the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1993. She was promoted to associate professor, with tenure, during this time. In 2002, she joined the U-M School of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry as an associate professor, with tenure. In 2005, she was appointed as the director of pediatric dentistry and was appointed to the Harris Professorship in 2006.

Propelled by genetic and proteomic advances, Dr. Hu’s research group deter mines the underlying genetic etiology of inherited disorders affecting human dentitions. From molecular cloning and recombinant protein expression to targeted gene knockout and gene editing, the group has systematically discovered and character ized many genes critical for dental enamel and dentin formation and mineralization. The ultimate goal of her research is to apply scientific discoveries toward devising therapeutic measures for human disorders and diseases involving teeth.

Among her many U-M leadership roles, she was the director of the Oral Health Sciences PhD program from November 2010 to November 2018, and the interim chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry from July 2015 through June 2016. She was appointed Chair of the Department of Biological and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics in September of 2018, after serving as interim chair.

SCHOOL

Dr. Jan Ching Chun

Hu

“She is a distinguished scholar and educator with years of experience as a faculty member, administrator and researcher.”

SCHOOL Fall 2022 | M Dentistry 11

– Former U-M Provost Susan Collins

Dr. Lee Jones’ Life and Career Celebrated

The late Dr. Lee W. Jones, a School of Dentistry alumnus and the first director of its diversity initiative that began in the 1970s, was remembered at a school event in August as a determined leader and mentor to hundreds of students during his years at the school.

About 250 people, most in-person at Kellogg Auditorium and some online, attended “A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Lee W. Jones, Jr.” Family members, school administrators, dentistry colleagues, alumni and current students shared stories and praise of Jones’ dedication to dentistry, education and creating a more diverse student body and profession of dentistry.

Jones, who died on Sept. 6, 2021, at the age of 87, was the first African-American to have a dental practice in Ann Arbor after he gradu ated from the dental school in 1961. Even as he maintained the practice, he returned to the dental school after several years to become an instructor and, in 1973, was named director of what was then called the Office of Minority Affairs. Under his leadership over the next 20-plus years, the school developed

programs that increased minority enrollment and established the school as a leader in increasing diversity in dentistry.

A new conference room that is part of the recently completed Blue Renew major renovation at the dental school has been named for Dr. Jones. It was made possible by a financial gift from Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk, an alumna (DDS 1978) and Professor Emerita of Dentistry and Assistant Dean Emerita for Student Services, and Dr. Ron Stewart, an alumnus (DDS 1978, MS 1982). A portrait or Dr. Jones painted by Ann Arbor dentist and artist Dr. James Lee (DDS 1990), was unveiled during the celebration and will be displayed in the room.

Photos, awards and other memorabilia from Dr. Lee Jones’ career covers a table in a new conference room named for him on the first floor of the dental school. Pictured are, from left, Dr. Todd Ester, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Dr. Ron Stewart, one of two donors whose financial gifts provided for the conference room naming (the other donor, Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk, was unable to attend); Dr. Karen-Lee Jones Stewart, one of Dr. Jones’ daughters; Dr. Laurie McCauley, U-M Provost and former dean; and Dr. Jan Hu, Interim Dean.

The many stories recounted during the celebration documented Jones’ tireless contributions to diversity, equity and inclu sion over his long career. A video tribute with brief interviews of people who knew Jones included numerous Black dentists who are alumni of the school and said they would not have become dentists with long

and successful careers if not for the support they received from Jones. Those students who became dentists are perhaps the most important part of Jones’ legacy, said Dr. Todd Ester, the school’s current Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion who carries on the work Jones started in 1973. Ester called Jones a giant in the lives of many people, including the more than 250 Black dentists who have graduated from U-M over the last three decades.

The school has previously honored Dr. Jones’ leadership and service to the school, with the Lee Jones Dentistry Diversity Program and the Lee W. Jones Scholarship Fund, which provides need-based financial aid for students. In 2014, Dr. Jones received the dental school’s Distinguished Service Award, and in 2008, he received the Civil Rights Award from the National Dental Association.

Alumni of the School of Dentistry who attended the Celebration of Life join Interim Dean Jan Hu (front row, third from right) for a group photo after the event.

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A portrait of Dr. Lee Jones by Ann Arbor dentist and artist Dr. James Lee (DDS 1990).

Cristiane Squarize Appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

School of Dentistry faculty member Dr. Cristiane Squarize was named Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, effective Sept. 1, 2022, for a five-year term. She was recommended for the position by the school’s Executive Committee, and the appointment was approved by the U-M Board of Regents.

Dr. Squarize is an Associ ate Professor of Dentistry in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine. She succeeds Dr. Lynn Johnson, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Insti tutional Effectiveness, who stepped down as Associate Dean on Aug. 31 as she transitions to retirement at the end of this year.

Squarize is responsible for the leadership and management of faculty affairs, including recruitment, appointments, promotion and

tenure, equity and compensation, grievance, and professional standards for faculty. She collaborates with the school’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and department chairs to develop programs that support faculty development and overall success.

In her roles as professor, mentor and scientist, Squarize teaches several courses and has mentored undergraduate, dental, dental hygiene, dental specialist, master’s, doctoral and post-doctoral students, as well as junior faculty. Her research program focuses on key signaling pathways and epidermal stem cells’ contribution to epithelial regeneration and disease. She has been continuously funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH, and has received a prestigious award from the Robert Wood

Johnson Foundation, among others. She has participated on committees of the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) and the International Association of Dental Research, served as the President of the AADOCR Michigan Chapter and as a member of the AADOCR Council.

Squarize joined the School of Dentistry in 2010 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor, with tenure, in 2018. Prior to joining the school, she concluded her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. During her postdoc toral studies, she uncovered the role of key genes involved in tissue regeneration and skin homeostasis. Prior to joining NIDCR, she received her DDS degree from the Catholic University of Campinas in Brazil, followed by her MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Sao Paulo.

Gisele Neiva Leads Dental Technology Initiative

Faculty member Dr. Gisele Neiva has been named Director of Predoctoral Dental Technology for the School of Dentistry.

The appointment, announced by Interim Dean Jan Hu, reflects the school’s increased emphasis on the use of the CAD/ CAM and 3-D printing technologies that continue to advance rapidly in the profession of dentistry and dental education. The school has added dental technology as one of the key initia tives in its ongoing Strategic Plan.

Dr. Neiva is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative

Sciences and Endodontics with considerable experience in digital technology. She is Director of the Graduate Restorative Clinic and Director of the Graduate Restorative Dentistry Program.

Her new appointment focuses on collaboration with all departments and various administrative units on the implementation of new tech nologies across the preclini cal and clinical curricula. Neiva will support the training of faculty in new technologies and collaboratively develop guidelines and workflows that involve acquisition of materi als, clinical staff, data security and quality assurance. The plan calls for a robust dental

technology infrastructure in collaboration with departments such as Patient Services, Facilities and Dental Informatics. Neiva also will serve on the CAD/CAM Committee, as well as the 3D Printing Financial Sustainabil ity Committee, working with administration and the school development staff to create a plan for long-term financial sustainability of technology in the predoctoral curriculum.

Neiva has been involved in clinical and laboratory research for more than 25 years and has been a faculty member at U-M for the last 21 years. She graduated from The Federal University of Paraná School of Dentistry in Brazil and has earned two master's degrees – one in Restorative Dentistry from the U-M dental school and the other in Clinical Research Design & Statistical Analysis from the U-M School of Public Health.

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Dr. Cristiane Squarize Dr. Gisele Neiva

Interim Chair of BMSP

Dr. Fei Liu was named interim chair of the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics (BMSP) in June. The previous chair, Dr. Jan Hu, is now Interim Dean of the school. Liu is an associate professor in BMSP and interim director of the graduate prosthodontics program in the department. He teaches courses for both dental students and residents and treats prosthodontic patients. Liu is a Diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics, fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists, and fellow of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and a member of numerous other professional associations.

Gray in Leaders Program

Mary Jo Gray, the school’s Compliance Officer, has been accepted into the 2022-23 cohort of the Emerging Leaders Program sponsored by the National Asso ciation of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). The program is a professional develop ment opportunity for promising mid-level managers. Gray is one of 67 business officers selected from a large group of applicants; the cohort represents 55 institutions and 32 states. Participants will work to enhance their personal leadership skills, examine the impact of the business office and cross-campus relationships, and gain a better understanding of the present state and future of higher education. The program includes in-person and online meetings of the entire cohort as well as small groups, with individual activities and assignments throughout the year.

Sindecuse Spotlight

Artifacts from the extensive collection at the dental school’s Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry

Cone-shaped Steel Lamp

Purpose: For whitening discolored, pulpless teeth

Inventor: Dr. Ralph Sommer Circa: 1956 Details: This cone-shaped steel lamp is among the features in a new exhibit, “Teeth Transformations: Modifications for Self-Expression,” that opened this summer at the Sindecuse. Faculty member Dr. Ralph Sommer (DDS 1924) invented the lamp in the mid-1950s for use in whitening discolored, pulpless teeth. An endodontist, Sommer was recognized nationally for innovative work in root surgery, the treatment of root-end infections and revolutionary methods of aseptically treating and filling pulpless teeth. In 1956, Sommer and his colleagues described a new process in which a whitening agent, hydrogen peroxide, was applied inside the tooth and activated by the bright light and heat of a special lamp. The drawback was that the hot lamp was posi tioned close to the patient’s open mouth and had to be endured for a minimum of 30 minutes. Sommer taught courses on this bleaching method across the nation, but the lamp shown here was a prototype that was never widely manufactured.

To see more of the Sindecuse Museum collections, go to www.sindecusemuseum.org/collectionsoverview

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Dr. Fei Liu Mary Jo Gray

Sindecuse Museum curator Tammy Barnes moves carefully through the “Teeth Transfor mations” exhibit case to adjust an item on display.

Sindecuse Museum Featuring Two New Exhibits

Two new dentistry-related exhibits are gracing the School of Dentistry for the next two years. One looks at the history of people who modify their teeth; the other showcases the artwork of faculty, alumni, students, and staff from the dental school.

“Teeth Transformations: Modifications for Self-Expression” is the major new exhibit that opened this summer at the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry in its main display area in the dental school atrium. It explores the many ways people around the world have historically modified their teeth for reasons beyond achieving a better bite. Teeth are altered to improve physical attractiveness, elevate social status, prove spiritual devout ness and conform with, or rebel against, cultural norms – sometimes to the detriment and functionality of chewing and oral health.

Changes to teeth color, including ancient practices of blackening, are shown in contrast to more contemporary desires to achieve unnaturally white teeth. Shaping teeth is featured as well, whether it be veneers and bonding for perfection, or filing, notching and sharpening for various reasons. The exhibit juxtaposes the ancient Mayan practice of inlaying gems onto the

Dr. Kirk Donaldson (DDS 1980) is pictured with several of his fine art photographs that were submitted for the”Artistry/Dentistry” exhibit. Since retiring from dentistry in 2021, Donaldson, of Whitmore Lake, Mich., has re-focused on his photography avocation.

surface of teeth with some of the adornments used today – like adding a tiny Block M to indicate your university loyalties or a flashier gold “grill” to attract even greater attention.

The second new exhibit – “Artistry/Dentist ry: Passions of a Creative Mind” – features art submitted by members of the School of Dentistry community. The manual dexter ity and skill required to practice dentistry necessitates a creative mind, leading many in the dental community to practice art in

various ways outside the dental office. The exhibit includes paintings, photographs, book illustrations, sculpture, wood-carving and mixed media. An opening reception in early November also featured performance art, including a drum solo.

About 30 artworks from 21 artists were selected for the exhibit. Their work is displayed in six exhibit areas on the first and second floors of the dental school.

Both exhibits will be displayed through 2024.

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Detail of, from left, a watercolor by periodontics MS grad student Teresa Heck; a children’s book illustration in watercolor by alumna Sue Cleereman (DDS 1986) of New Boston, Mich.,; and one in a series of moth watercolors by D3 student August Person

School Assists at Special Smiles Clinic

A large contingent of faculty, dental and dental hygiene students, staff and alumni volunteered to represent the School of Dentistry at a Special Smiles Clinic that was part of a Special Olympics event in Detroit in early August. The Unified Cup soccer competition brought 300 players, ages 18-24, from 21 countries. “Unified” references that the teams comprise players with and without intellectual disabilities playing together. The week-long event included various types of health screenings for the young athletes.

Volunteers from the dental school provided oral health screenings, mouthguard fittings and oral hygiene instruction over three days at the Special Smiles Clinic held at Schoolcraft Community College in Livonia, which was one of the soccer game sites. Lead organizers from the dental school’s Integrated Special Care Clinic team included faculty members Drs. Romesh Nalliah, Stephanie Munz and Bryan Tervo. Two Dental Hygiene alumni also had key organiz ing roles through the Special Olympics –Karen Roth (BSDH 1981) of East Lansing, a longtime Special Olympics volunteer, and Chris Farrell (BSDH 1981), an adjunct DH faculty member and Oral Health Director for the Michigan Department of Community Health.

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Top – This large group of dental school faculty, students, staff and alumni were among those who volunteered on the second day of the three-day dental clinic. Above – Faculty member Dr. Stephanie Munz examines a player from Slovakia as Kanika Singh, a research assistant at the school, assists.

Faculty Notes

Dr. Nisha D’Silva was named a Rogel Scholar by Michigan Medicine in May. The award provides support for exceptional faculty dedicated to achieving impact on cancer prevention, patient outcomes and quality of life. D’Silva is the Donald A. Kerr Endowed Collegiate Professor of Oral Pathology and a Professor in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine. She is also a Professor of Pathology at the U-M Medical School. Her research in head-andneck cancer focuses on biomarkers and molecular mechanisms of tumor progression and treatment resistance. She is one of 12 Rogel Scholars named in 2022 and the only researcher from the dental school. Recipients receive $50,000 per year for three years to assist in their research projects. “The grant will help us greatly in pursuing a couple of critical and expensive experiments that could have a significant impact on our research in oral cancer,” D’Silva said. “As a faculty member from the dental school, I am honored to receive this award. Long-standing encouragement by current and former deans to establish inter-disciplinary research collaborations across units on campus has been very successful. This award highlights the strength of our research environment at the School of Dentistry.”

Faculty member Dr. Marco Bottino has been appointed as the Robert W. Browne Professor. The school’s Executive Committee and Interim Dean Jan Hu recommended the appointment, and it was approved by the U-M Board of Regents. It is a five-year appointment through Aug. 31, 2027. Dr. Bottino is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics. He is a leader in the field of regenerative medicine. His research focuses on the development of clinically relevant strategies for engineering dental and craniofacial tissue, with a particular focus on supporting the clinical translation of a novel biomaterial for bone regeneration. He has 130 peer-reviewed publications, five National Institutes of Health grants of which he is the principal investigator on three, and numerous foundation grants. He has had 10 government grants as a principal investigator or a co-principal investigator since joining the U-M School of Dentistry in 2017. The professorship is named for the late Dr. Robert W. Browne (DDS 1952, MS 1959 orthodontics), and one of the school’s most generous benefactors for more than 50 years.

Two faculty members are part of a team that received a prize for innovative teaching from the University of Michigan Provost’s Office: Dr. Mark Fitzgerald, Associate Dean for Community-Based Collaborative Care and Education and an associate professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics, and Dr. Danielle Rulli, a clinical associate professor in the Dental Hygiene program and director of the Graduate Dental Hygiene Program. They helped develop a project called LIFE, short for “Longitudinal Interprofessional Familybased Experience,” as part of their work with U-M’s Center for Interprofessional Education. LIFE is one of five U-M faculty projects that received the Provost’s 2022 Teaching Innovative Prize, or TIP. LIFE was developed for students in healthcare fields in collaboration with Michigan Medicine’s Office of Patient Experience. Small groups of students are connected with real patients and their families to learn about their interaction with healthcare providers and how chronic illness affects daily life. Students gain insights about the time-consuming and emotional work related to chronic illness, including advocating for care, handling complicated insurance issues and managing medications.

Dr. Todd Ester, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the School of Dentistry, served in a key role at a national summit hosted by the American Dental Education Association in August to address the shortage of men of color in the health professions. Held at ADEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., the event included representatives from dentistry and numerous other healthcare professions, and from more than a dozen dental schools and academic centers. Ester helped plan the program and was the moderator of two panel discussions, one with speakers sharing their personal stories as persons of color and as underrepresented minorities in their profession, and a second that engaged and surveyed the audience as problems and solutions were discussed. Dental School faculty member Dr. Jacques Nör, immediate past president of the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research, was among several representatives of professional dental organizations who spoke briefly in support of the ADEA initiative. The summit’s keynote speaker was Dr. David Satcher, former Surgeon General of the United States. ADEA President and CEO Dr. Karen West said the summit served as an initial step in what will be a longer, sustained and collaborative effort to lead on an issue that significantly undermines access to quality health care.

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Dr. Nisha D’Silva Dr. Danielle Rulli Dr. Todd Ester Dr. Marco Bottino Dr. Mark Fitzgerald

Faculty Pro f ile

Dr. Larry Salzmann: Pediatric dentistry is rewarding; teaching it is even better

Growing up in a family of mechanical engineers, Larry Salzmann decided to break the tradition and go to dental school. His vision of how his dentistry career would play out didn’t go much beyond the idyllic Midwestern town where he grew up – Moline, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities that straddle the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa.

“Dentistry seemed like a way of helping people and being a bit independent,” he recalls. “I really looked up to my family dentist when I was a kid. We also had a dear family member who was a dentist in a small town and that’s what I thought I would do. Go hang up my shingle over Schlegel’s Rexall Drug Store and fix teeth all the time and be part of the community. It seemed like a great lifestyle and a great way to interact with people.”

Forty years later, his career in dentistry has had a much wider impact than his relatively narrow expectation when he went off to the

Northwestern University School of Dentistry in Chicago. He found a rewarding niche in pediatric dentistry and accidentally discovered that he loved being an educator. Beyond the countless patients he’s treated over the years, he’s had a part in educating and influencing hundreds of students who went on to become dentists around the country.

Salzman joined the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 2016 after 34 years of teaching at the Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) dental schools. He is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry and is Director of the Predoctoral Program in Pediatric Dentistry as well as Clinic Director for Pediatric Dentistry.

Salzmann’s move into teaching was serendipitous. He was leaning toward pediatric dentistry when he graduated from Northwestern with his DDS in 1979, but he practiced general dentistry for a year in

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Chicago to make sure pediatric dentistry was the direction he wanted. It was, so he completed a two-year pediatric residency at a children’s hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He returned to Chicago thinking he would join or start a pediatric practice, but there was an oversupply of dentists at the time. Checking in with the pediatric chair at his alma mater, he was offered a teaching job and accepted, figuring it would be a “filler job” until he could settle into a private practice.

“That filler job turn out to be the love of my life,” Salzmann says. “Like finding out that pediatric dentistry was for me, I found that teaching was the icing on the cake. Like most of us dental students, it was something I had never been trained for, but it was something that I felt good about. All of a sudden I was the mentor for all of these mentees. I could take that raw piece of clay, if you will, and form them.”

From 1982 to 2001, Salzmann worked his way up through the faculty ranks at Northwestern to clinical associate professor in the pediatrics department. When Northwestern closed its dental school in 2001, Salzmann’s career moved only a few blocks across downtown Chicago to a faculty position at the UIC dental school. He advanced to the rank of clinical professor over the 15 years he worked there. During both of those faculty tenures, he maintained a private practice, from 1982-2010.

The scholarly interests he pursued include education methodology, curricular development, dental informatics, pulp biology and HIV/ AIDS. He helped establish community dental rotations for students that included health centers whose primary target populations are migrant farm workers and people living with HIV/AIDS, the latter supported by a federal grant.

In 2016, as he reached a breaking point with the administration at UIC and considered retiring, he heard about a faculty opening in pediatrics at U-M and decided to pursue it. After living for 34 years in downtown Chicago – and never owning a car – the move to Ann Arbor was jarring at first. However, he soon settled into a routine in which he splits time between an apartment in Ann Arbor and a home he owns in New Buffalo, Michigan.

As he did with his students in Chicago, Salzmann said he tries to provide a welcom ing environment for learning to treat children – it’s as much an art as science – and also an appreciation for the importance of pediatric dentistry. Salzmann shares his experience in how to warm up to children who are scared of dental care, as well as the intricacies of treating the unique dental problems of young patients ranging from toddlers to teenagers. Equally important, Salzmann emphasizes the need to communicate to both the young patients and their parents about the importance of good dental care as it relates to overall health.

“Many of the problems we see are things that could be prevented with good oral care – not enough brushing and flossing, cavities between the teeth, using mouthguards to prevent injuries in sports,” he says. “We are sort of standing on the soap box preaching and hoping our patients and their parents listen. It’s not just educating the patient, it is educating the whole family, whether it is grandma who is head of the family, or Mom or Dad. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If we could have families and kids brush and floss, watch their snacking, live more healthy lifestyles – those are the things we’re trying to instill.”

“I tell my classes even today that I’m not going to make all of you pediatric dentists, but I want to give you an appreciation of what it’s like working with children. And then you can help us out in your general practices. But I may have a few of you come over to the pediatric side, then I’m happy, too.”

Salzmann’s method of teaching has drawn praise since the beginning. His CV has a lengthy list of awards he received from students and administrators at Northwestern and UIC, and it didn’t take long until similar commendations began arriving at U-M. What’s the secret to his teaching success?

“The expression is ‘Follow your bliss.’ I am very fortunate that I found education and teaching. It is my bliss. I just love it. I continue to learn, especially from my students. I honestly don’t know what I do that students like. I’m just me. This is what you get. I do find joy in teaching, so maybe that’s part of what comes through. I was on the other side of the student-faculty equation at one point in time, and I appreciated those faculty who, assuming I had the basic raw skills to work with, helped guide me to the right spot. And I’m happy to continue doing it with my students. It’s a great satisfaction. It’s nice to get an award, but it’s that individual student who says thanks at the end of the day, or that little kid who says thanks at the end of the day, that are the most reinforcing.”

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D3 students Robert Mora and Miranda Eberle observe as Dr. Larry Salzmann examines a young patient.

RESEARCH Research News

Yuji Mishina was named associate director of the school’s Oral Health Sciences PhD program, effective June 1. He is the William R. Mann Professor of Dentistry in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics. He will jointly administer the OHS PhD program for one year with the current director, Dr. Vesa Kaartinen, Associate Dean for Research, then Mishina will then continue as director of the program. Mishina teaches courses related to cell and molecular biology, musculoskeletal biology and disease, mineralized tissues, developmental biology and embryogenesis. In his advising and mentoring, he works with students from undergraduate, DDS, master’s and PhD programs. Many of his students have received national and international awards. At the school’s annual Research Day earlier this year, he received the Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award. Mishina will be the fourth director of the PhD program since it was founded in 1994. Dr. Charlotte Mistretta directed the program from its inception until 2010, and Dr. Jan Hu was the program director from 2010 to 2018, prior to Kaartinen’s leadership.

in Tissue Engineering and Regeneration, also known as the TEAM grant, short for Tissue Engineering at Michigan. It provides an interdisciplinary research-intensive training environment for advanced degree candidates pursuing careers in the oral sciences, with a focus in the area of restoration of oralcraniofacial tissues. The students’ course work, research training and career develop ment combine life sciences, engineering and clinical dentistry, with faculty mentors coming from various health science depart ments across the U-M campus. David Kohn, the Natalie C. Roberts Endowed Professor in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics, and a professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been associ ated with the program for 25 years and has directed it since 2011.

Gurjit Mandair, a research area specialist in the lab of Professor David Kohn, works in one of the new open lab areas created during the recently completed Blue Renew renovation project.

Distinguished Scientist Awards presented by the IADR, representing one of the highest honors bestowed by the organization.

Lombaert leads a research program focused on inventing new and novel therapeutic models to both target and understand diverse diseases occurring to salivary glands. Her research includes the regenerative stem cell field and examining methods to repair irradi ated glands in head and neck cancer patients suffering from xerostomia, or dry mouth. She has published numerous manuscripts and book chapters and her efforts in the salivary gland field have received multiple NIHNIDCR grants.

A longstanding federally funded research training program at the School of Dentistry has received another five-year grant that will carry it into its 50th year. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research approved the T32 extension through June 30, 2027, for the Institutional Training Program

The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) presented faculty member Isabelle Lombaert with the IADR 2022 Distinguished Scientist Salivary Research Award. Lombaert is an associate professor in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics. The award was presented during the opening ceremonies of the 100th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR, held virtually in June. The award recognizes outstanding and innovative achievements that have contributed to the basic understanding of the salivary gland structure, secretion and function, or salivary composition and function. It is one of 17

Faculty member Livia Tenuta is one of three researchers from around the world who received a 2022 Innovation in Oral Care Award from the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). Tenuta, an associate professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences & Endodon tics, received the $50,000 award for an ongoing study, “Multifunctional nanoparticle to manage xerostomia and hyposalivationinduced caries.” The study will develop a multifunctional nanoparticle that will adhere to the oral mucosa, release lubricants and deliver mineral ions to help counteract the risk for caries development in patients with dry mouth. Tenuta’s co-investigators are Dr. Brian Clarkson, professor emeritus in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences & Endodontics, and Joerg Lahann, a U-M engineering professor and director of the Biointerfaces Institute at U-M. Tenuta’s award was announced during opening ceremonies of the 100th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR, held virtually in June.

A new study linking regular periodontal care with shorter hospital stays for people who are treated for heart attacks received widespread national media attention this summer. The research team included Romesh Nalliah, Associate Dean for Patient

RESEARCH M Dentistry | Fall 2022 20

Services and clinical professor of dentistry.

Published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), the study found that heart attack patients who receive regular

periodontal maintenance care have shorter hospital stays, while those with no dental care have the longest hospital stays after a heart attack. “Better collaborative care of

patients between medical and dental teams could reduce worse outcomes of (heart attack) hospitalization,” the study concludes.

DENTAL HYGIENE Graduates Return to Help Celebrate DH Program’s Centennial

A century of dental hygiene education at the School of Dentistry was celebrated at the School of Dentistry in August as alumni, faculty and friends gathered from around the country to mark the milestone.

The Dental Hygiene Division was created in 1921, among the earliest in the country, after a national movement championed the need for educating and certifying hygienists to assist dentists. A century later, the school has graduated more than 3,500 dental hygienists with bachelor of science degrees or certifi cates (an option discontinued in 1985). In addition, graduate degrees have been offered since 1964, making U-M the oldest graduate dental hygiene program in the country.

About 150 people gathered for a reunionstyle event, with graduates from many years in attendance. Two women from the Class of 1948 were honored as the oldest graduates in attendance. Myra (Townsend) Breakey, 94, of Clark Lake, Michigan, and Virginia (Brooks) McKown, 93, of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, earned their hygiene certifi cates 74 years ago.

Members of three classes – 1970, 1971 and 1972 – received special recognition for their 50-year, or emeritus, anniversaries in a special program before the main Centennial Celebration. The three classes celebrated

together because the pandemic had disrupted the usual annual schedule recognizing emeritus classes.

Keynote speaker Dr. Laurie McCauley, who was dean of the School of Dentistry for nine years before being named U-M Provost last May, cited the hygiene program’s longstanding tradition of innovation, with outstanding leadership from only four direc tors over the century. The comprehensive curriculum, grounded in the sciences, has evolved continually to include options such as degree completion and online courses. A key advantage of the hygiene program being at a School of Dentistry, she noted, is that hygiene students are able to work closely with dental students during their clinical education, preparing the future dentists and hygienists for the collaborative care they will experience in their careers.

Beyond preparing hygienists, McCauley said, the program produces undergraduate

After the Centennial program, alumni and friends toured the recently renovated School of Dentistry. Faculty member Martha McComas demonstrates lighting equipment above a dental chair in a new operatory. On the tour are, from left, alumni Suzanne Rayburn, Jan Kerstein-Midluff and Dorothy KersteinHelmreich, and Rayburn’s husband, Dave.

Class of 1948 members Virginia McKown (left) and Myra Breakey were introduced as the most senior hygiene graduates to return for the Centennial Celebration.

and graduate students who go on to a variety of roles in healthcare. Previous graduates have chosen dental school, public health, administrative and leadership positions in higher education, health insurance and other companies that support dentistry. McCauley said the strong foundation and the consistent innovation over the history of the program leave no doubt that it is the best Dental Hygiene program in the country.

Dr. Purnima Kumar, chair of the Depart ment of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, in which the Dental Hygiene division resides, noted its far-reaching impact over its history. “In the 100 years that this program has been in existence, we have not only trained and educated the best dental hygienists in the land, but we’ve also been at the front of innovation, of research, of policy-making, and advocacy,” she said. “And many of you here in the room are testaments to the efforts of the great educators that we’ve had in this program. Today we are truly celebrating you and the success and the pride that you have brought to this program and all of us.”

Wendy Kerschbaum, who led the division as director from 1988-2012, recounted significant developments in the division’s history over the years, including the hiring of the first two directors of the program, Dorothy Hard from 1924-1968 and Pauline Steele, from 1968-88. Kerschbaum, who was a first-year student the same year Steele took over as director, eventually succeeded Steele

M Dentistry | Fall 2022 DENTAL HYGIENE 22

as director. When Kerschbaum retired in 2012, Janet Kinney was named director and served until this September.

Kinney told the alumni and friends of the program in attendance that she wants contemporary graduates of the Dental

Hygiene program to retain the same loyalty to the school as graduates over past decades.

“You are exemplary role models. You have stayed true to your ‘Blue’ connections, you have valued the education you received at Michigan, and you have graciously

Outstanding Alumni Awards Presented for 2021, 2022

Two awards for the School of Dentistry Board of Governors Outstanding Dental Hygiene Alumni were presented during the Centennial program, one for each of the last two years after the pandemic delayed the presentations. Carol Spear, who received her master’s degree in Dental Hygiene from the school in 1972, received the 2021 award. Amy Coplen, BSDH 2002 and MSDH 2009, received the 2022 award.

Spear, a resident of Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, retired on July 1, 2011, as a professor at the Department of Dental Hygiene at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry. She was a faculty member there for 34 years, and taught previously in the Department of Dental Hygiene at Foothill Community College in Los Altos Hills, Calif., for seven years.

Spear has presented numerous lectures and continuing education courses on infection control and bloodborne pathogens during her tenure at WVU, and was Chair of the School of Dentistry Committee on Infection Control. Although retired from teaching, she continues her interest in dental infection control and is an active member of the Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP).

Spear has authored chapters in four textbooks, served as an exam writer for the Dental Hygiene National Board Exam, and was selected as an Outstanding Teacher at the WVU School of Dentistry. She received the 2001 WVU School of Dentistry Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award and the 2009 West Virginia Dental Hygiene Association Distinguished Registered Dental Hygienist Award. She is a member of both the American and West Virginia dental hygienists’ associations and the Alpha Xi Chapter of the Sigma Phi Alpha National Dental Hygiene Honorary. She has served as a member of the WVU School of Dentistry Alumni Association Board of Governors and currently is a member of the WVU School of Dentistry Leadership Council.

Coplen is the Program Director of the School of Dental Hygiene Studies at Pacific University in

supported the program over the years. I am truly touched by your continued allegiance. In the words of our former dean, Laurie McCauley, you have ‘stayed Blue’ and that is what I wish for our students of today and for the next 100 years.”

Hillsboro, Oregon. She joined Pacific as a faculty member in 2009 and served as Associate Dean for Interprofessional Education before being named Program Director in 2018. Please see Pages 28-29 for additional information on Coplen, who is featured as the Alumni Profile in this edition of M Dentistry magazine.

Fall 2022 | M Dentistry 23 DENTAL HYGIENE

Carol Spear (right) received the 2021 Outstanding Alumni Award, presented by alumna Cathy Draper (left) and Alumni Board of Governors represen tative Janet Cook Amy Coplen (right) received the 2022 Outstanding Alumni Award, presented by former faculty member Anne Gwozdek (left) and Alumni Board of Governors representative Janet Cook .

Leadership Change Announced for Dental Hygiene

A change in leadership of the Dental Hygiene Division was announced in September by Dr. Purnima Kumar, chair of the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, which oversees the hygiene division. Darlene Jones, a clinical lecturer, was named Interim Director of Dental Hygiene, and Martha McComas, clinical assistant professor, was named Interim Associate Director.

Janet Kinney, the Dr. Dorothy G. Hard Legacy Professor, who had been director of the division since 2012, will remain on the hygiene faculty.

Jones has been with the division full-time since 2014 after previously teaching part-time at the school. She holds an associate’s degree from Lakeland Community College in Ohio, a bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University in Texas and a Master of Public Admin istration degree from Eastern Michigan University. She has extensive experience as a clinical hygienist and with community outreach programs providing care to underserved patients. Mentoring students in community service is also one of her interests.

McComas joined the hygiene program in 2013. She holds an Associ ate of Science degree in Dental Hygiene and a bachelor’s degree, both from Indiana University, and an MS in Dental Hygiene from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. She practiced clinical dental hygiene for 10 years and began teaching in 2007. Her research interests include curriculum development, teaching method ology, interprofessional education and cariology.

In announcing the leadership change, Kumar thanked Kinney for her leadership and stewardship of the division over the last decade. “Her skills, commitment and dedication have seen the program success fully navigate several challenges and reach many milestones,” Kumar said. They include the transition of the bachelor’s program from a

3-year schedule, with summers off, to a year-round schedule for two years; growing and developing the master’s program and the degree-completion e-learning program; celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the program; and overcoming myriad challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Janet has been a visionary leader and the division, the department and the dental hygiene community of Michigan owe her a sincere debt of gratitude for her initiative and drive,” Kumar said.

Inaugural DH White Coat Ceremony

The Dental Hygiene program at the School of Dentistry held its firstever White Coat Ceremony on May 26 to welcome 40 new students into the hygienist profession. The ceremony was similar to one that has been held for dental students for many years. Program administrators added the ceremony to commemorate the start of the students’ education and to emphasize the importance of joining the profession of dental hygiene. Seniors who will graduate in spring 2023 helped the Class of 2024 don their white clinic coats embroidered with the new student’s name and the “M Dentistry” logo. Faculty presented each senior with a rose to mark the halfway point of their two years in the program. The ceremony concluded with students and faculty reciting the Dental Hygiene Oath, which affirms students’ personal and professional commitment to improve the oral health of the public and promote high standards of care. The Class of 2024 is the first to enter after the program expanded enrollment to 40 students, an increase from 32 in the Class of 2023 and previous years to meet a growing demand for hygienists.

Class of 2023 DH student Daelyn Merillat helps Class of 2024 student Anthony Barraco into his coat.

24 M Dentistry | Fall 2022 DENTAL HYGIENE

Darlene Jones Martha McComas Janet Kinney

1. Bryce Coleman is helped into his white coat with the assistance of D4 Rodrigo Rangel.

2. Geraldine Berke meier dons her clinic coat with help from D4 Holly Rizzo

3. Samantha Dial (front), Jordan DeVoe and Erika Danella recite the Oath of Aspiring Dentists with their classmates.

STUDENTS

DDS Class of 2026 Arrives from Around the Country

The new DDS class – the Class of 2026 –arrived in June and class members walked across the stage at Hill Auditorium for their White Coat Ceremony in late July. The 109 students were selected from 1,683 applicants. A snapshot of who they are:

• 58 Michigan residents and 51 students whose homes are out of state.

• 62 women and 47 men, which continues a trend in the last several years of more women than men in DDS classes that were historically male-dominated for more than a century.

• Average age of 22.8.

• A collective gradepoint average of 3.80, high scores on the Dental Admissions Test and impressive lists of academic involve ment, leadership and community service in their undergraduate years.

• Michigan universities represented in the students’ undergraduate preparation are the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (26), Michigan State (17), Grand Valley (4), Detroit Mercy (3), Wayne State (2), Oakland (2), University of Michigan, Dearborn (1), Eastern Michigan (1), Spring Arbor (1).

• Students also attended universities in these states from coast to coast: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. One student attended St. George’s University in London, England, and one student who earned an undergraduate degree in New York is a native of China.

• 102 students hold bachelor’s degrees, five have master’s degrees, one has a PhD and one was admitted with three-plus years of undergraduate study.

Fall 2022 | M Dentistry 25 STUDENTS

1 2 3 3

Class of 2022 Graduation

All in the Family

Students hooded by their parent-alums:

• Michael Azzopardi – Drs. Mark Az zopardi (DDS 1982) and Terri Todaro (DDS 1985)

• Michaela Betts – Dr. Norman Betts (DDS 1986, MS 1990)

• Brandon Bonine – Dr. Fredric Bonine (DDS 1979, MS 1984)

• William Buurma – Dr. Brian Buurma (DDS 1998, MS 2000)

• Kelly and Taylor Chick – Dr. Karen Kerry (DDS 1985)

• Christine Gauss – Drs. Chip Gauss and Sandy Gschwind (both DDS 1989)

• Hina Jaffer – Dr. Amin Jaffer (DDS 1997)

• Carter Lee – Dr. Bruce Lee (DDS 1987)

• Blake Mikesell – Dr. Thor Mikesell (DDS 1997)

• Tyler Powell – Dr. Lisa Powell (DDS 1992)

• Kiera Robinson – Dr. Thomas Robinson (DDS 1996, MS 2002)

• Christian Shortt – Drs. William and Therese Shortt (both DDS 1987)

Then and Now

When Hina Jaffer crossed the stage at Hill Auditorium during commencement in May, she may have had a sense of déjà vu because she had worn a cap and gown – though a much smaller size – at another School of Dentistry graduation ceremony 25 years ago. Her father, Dr. M. Amin Jaffer had carried her, at age 1, in his arms when he walked across the stage at his graduation in 1997. This year, the senior Amin followed, rather than carried, his daughter across the stage. He was one of 15 alumni parents who came on stage to hood their children.

(1997 photo courtesy of the Jaffer family)

M Dentistry | Fall 2022 STUDENTS 26

1. Dental Hygiene Class President Taylor Schrock applauded her class mates during her speech. Keeping with DH student tradition, Schrock decorated her mortarboard; it says “Class of Twenty Twenty Tooth.”

2 2022 DDS Class President Thomas Havlichek emphsized the positives of his classmates’ four-year journey made more diffi cult by the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Sarah Radden’s smile for the dean says she has reached the finish line of her DDS degree.

4. Jennifer McCarty waves to family and friends in the audience as she crosses the stage at Hill Auditorium.

5. Laszlo Rivero Prince was one of several graduates who stopped on stage to thank faculty member Dr. Mark Snyder with a hug.

Big Smile at the Big House

DDS student Lindsay Anderson received a special graduation present last spring when she was chosen as a student speaker for the main University of Michigan commence ment ceremonies at Michigan Stadium on April 30. She applied to the Student Speaker Selection Committee and was one of several students from across the university who were chosen for the distinction.

Anderson reflected on spending 11 years at U-M earning her undergraduate degree, two master’s degrees in public health, and her DDS degree – with three more years to go as she stays at the dental school to complete her MS in orthodontics. She cited experi ences like working as the dental director of a student-run free clinic serving low-income individuals, volunteering at the Food Gather ers Community Kitchen, and pursuing her passion of ballroom and Latin dancing on the U-M Ballroom Dance Club.

“As you have undoubtedly experienced yourself,” she told her fellow graduates, “any journey is not without its difficulties or missteps. Often there are inexplicable trials and tribulations laid before us which require grit, resilience and making tough decisions. Each of us has worked through and learned from these unique educational and personal challenges in our time here. We gather together today to celebrate this growth and who we have become. Reflecting on these myriad experiences, I have found time and time again that this community, this team, this family, can raise you up to achieve greatness in any goal you strive to fulfill in your life. That being said, I am proud of the perseverance and dedication it took to achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a dentist. I’m proud to have a Block ‘M’ behind each and every milestone it took to get here.”

27 Fall 2022 | M Dentistry STUDENTS

(Photo by former Dean Laurie McCauley, who was seated on the main stage.)

3 4 5

Alumni Pro f ile

Amy Coplen (BSDH 2002, MSDH 2009)

Finding her niche –and national recognition –in Dental Hygiene education

When Amy Coplen is asked about her growing national profile as a leader in dental hygiene education, she thinks back to a single, vivid conversation she remembers when she was a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.

In 2009, in class called “Current Issues in Dental Hygiene,” Coplen was asked a question by faculty member Wendy Kersch baum, who was then Director of the Dental Hygiene program. “Amy, is oral health a right or a privilege?”

“I said, ‘A right!’ And Wendy just smiled at me. The look she gave me said, ‘Just because something should be, doesn’t make it so.’ That stands out to me as a defining moment.”

In the time since, Coplen (pronounced COPE-lun) has logged an impressive start in her journey into academia, with an emphasis on finding new ways to improve the oral healthcare for underserved populations. After finishing her master’s degree at U-M in 2009, she joined the faculty of the School of Dental Hygiene Studies at Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon. She was promoted to Associate Dean for Interprofessional Educa tion, advanced to full professor and then, four years ago, was named Program Director. During her time as an educator, she has pursued many opportunities in professional development, including several leadership positions with the American Dental Educa tion Association (ADEA). She served on the Council of Sections, eventually taking officer

28 M Dentistry | Fall 2022 ALUMNI ALUMNI

roles in the ADEA Section on Dental Hygiene Education. She is currently the Board Director for ADEA’s Council of Allied Dental Program Directors. In 2018, she received ADEA’s prestigious Gies Award, for vision by a dental educator, at a point much earlier in her career than most recipients of the national award.

Coplen’s emphasis in the last several years in Oregon has been to work with the state legislature to allow for licen sure of dental therapists. They are more highly trained than dental hygienists and perform basic dental procedures, such as filling a cavity and doing some extrac tions, without being licensed as a dentist. Coplen testified before state legislative committees about the value of thera pists in providing healthcare for underserved patients, including those who live in areas with few dentists and-or those who cannot afford dental care.

The lobbying efforts succeeded, with the Oregon Legislature approving the practice of dental therapists in 2021 after earlier approving a pilot program for educating therapists, who are practicing dental hygienists, at the program that Coplen directs at Pacific University. The pilot was overseen by the Oregon Health Authority and funded by grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Willamette Dental Group and the Ford Family Foundation.

Thirteen states have authorized dental therapists, but there remains consider able debate about the position in the national dentistry community, including opposition from dentists who see thera pists as a challenge undermining their more extensive education. For Coplen, the pluses far outweigh the negatives and that’s why she wants the Pacific Dental Hygiene Program to become a leader in educating therapists. The dental

hygiene program there has long been recognized for its emphasis on commu nity service and public health, with DH students required to complete numerous rotations in alternative settings and Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Pacific is now finishing the second cohort of its dental therapist students as part of the pilot program while Coplen and the school’s faculty work on finish ing the many steps required to become an accredited program for this new classification of dental care provider. And in an interesting twist, Coplen is a student in that second cohort. She is adding licensed dental therapist to her

a hygienist and her father a dental lab technician – Coplen is grateful that her career expanded into dental education. After initially receiving her bachelor’s degree in hygiene in 2002, Coplen began work as a hygienist in the Dental Faculty Associates clinic at the dental school. She loved the work and was impressed by the dedication and compassion of the highly accomplished faculty she worked with in the clinic. She worked there for six years, with the last two being only part-time after she decided to explore her interest in teaching by beginning work on her master’s degree at the school.

When Coplen returned to the U-M campus this August to accept the 2022 DH Alumna of the Year Award (see story Page 23), she said her success and satisfaction thus far in her career is directly related to her time at U-M. Her mentors, in addition to Kerschbaum, include former DH faculty members

CV because the Commission on Dental Accreditation requires the director of any such program to be either a dentist or a dental therapist.

“I want to help start a dental therapy program, and I want to have an influ ence on that program growing both in Oregon and nationally,” Coplen said. “When I first learned about the concept back in 2009 when I was in the master’s program at Michigan, it was fascinating to me. That was the beginning. Now I’m at a school where we were able to pursue a pilot. I was able to be part of the legislation and provide testimony. And I’m becoming a dental therapist so I can direct the program. It’s always been about that lingering thought in my mind that I do think oral health should be a right, not a privilege, and what can I do in my lifetime to move us towards that?”

As someone who initially aspired to be a dental hygienist – her mother is

Anne Gwozdek and Christine Klausner, along with Lynn Johnson, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Institution al Effectiveness, whom Coplen worked with on a grant-funded research project the final year of her master’s degree.

“I feel I owe everything – every accom plishment I have – it comes back to where I started, what I learned and what I observed at Michigan,” Coplen said.

“They call it the Michigan Difference, and you find out very quickly when you leave that you learned something special there. Excellence isn’t the exception, it’s the standard.”

“With great privilege comes great responsibility,” she said. “I want to spend my life advancing this profession and advancing oral health for all people. That is really what I care about. I see that there is a lot of work to be done.”

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“They call it the Michigan Difference, and you find out very quickly when you leave that you learned something special there. Excellence isn’t the exception, it’s the standard.”

Richard Christiansen Reflects on His

Richard Christiansen has long since retired from his duties as dean and a professor at the School of Dentistry, but his keen intellect and intense interest in all things dentistry and academia is unwavering.

In an interview earlier this year, Christiansen mused about his time leading the dental school, from 1982-87, during an economic downturn and the significant changes it required; his interest in fostering interna tional relationships related to dentistry, then and today; the importance of scientific research and reviewing it; and his decision to give back to the dental schools that shaped his career.

Christiansen still lives in Ann Arbor and is adjusting to life without his wife of 66 years, Nancy, who died on Aug. 11, 2022. The high school sweethearts married in 1956 while Dick was still in dental school at the Univer sity of Iowa. They traveled the country and world together as Dick’s career unfolded, living in seven states and visiting more than 50 countries over the years. They called Ann Arbor home starting in 1982 when Dick accepted the dean position. For the last 20 years they had split their time between homes in Ann Arbor and Scottsdale, Arizona.

The early ‘80s were a challenging time to lead. The dental school was coping with the initial impact of what would be several years of reduced state, university and federal research funding. Budget cuts, declining enrollment and rapidly changing tech nologies and clinical care across the dental profession necessitated many changes that were not always greeted favorably by faculty. Revenue reductions prompted staff and faculty cuts, paired with open positions not being filled. Class sizes were reduced, from 135 entering DDS students in 1982 to 90 by

the time Christiansen left the dean’s job in 1987. (Today, by comparison, the entering class has 109 students.)

Christiansen was in many ways an excellent choice as dean in a time of change. From 1970-82, he held a number of positions at the National Institute of Dental Research, the forerunner of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He was program officer of the developmental biology and oral-facial anomalies program, chief of the craniofacial anomalies program branch, and associate director of extramural programs.

That research and administrative experience served him well as dean. As Christiansen thinks back today on his time leading the dental school, he recalls it fondly and believes he contributed positively to the initial years of a sea change in the structure of the dental school that ultimately was implemented by his successor, William Kotowicz, who served as Interim Dean from 1987-89.

“It is good to go through changes in your leadership,” Christiansen said. “You do need new ideas. I think I was able to guide the ship through a course that was new and generally exciting as it turned out. It was stressful for the faculty to accept this new guy from NIH, but I think I developed good rapport with virtually all of the faculty. With budgetary changes, it was obvious we needed to do some shifting, and that’s traumatic to the faculty. But it was fun and I enjoyed it, frankly.”

As Christiansen considered how to boost revenue to keep up the quality of the school, he developed a new initiative that is so widely accepted today that it seems it has always existed. He hired the school’s first development officer, Richard Desmond, and they turned to alumni for financial support in the midst of the budget crunch. They emphasized the importance of endowed professorships to support, retain and recruit high-level faculty. After two $1 million pledges were secured for professorships in the mid-1980s, alumni understood that they could make a difference in continuing the excellence of the school responsible for their successful careers. Today, alumni financial support is still a key part of the school’s annual budget.

M Dentistry | Fall 2022 30 ALUMNI

Days Leading the Dental School

The importance of scientific research and ensuring the integrity of the research remains an important topic for Christiansen. He chaired a committee at NIH in 1982 that developed guidelines for how universities and the institutes should report, investigate and review suspected acts of misconduct by researchers and labs receiving federal funding. It’s not only an ethical issue, but one that is important for maintaining soci ety’s trust in science. It requires relentless review until the facts are undisputed.

“What we generally claim is signed-andsealed true science, you have to keep questioning that also. As humans, we want things to be black-and-white. So if it looks like it is black and white, then some will say, ‘By George, I’m not going to listen to any other stories.’ But it may be more gray than you think. We have to keep questioning.”

Another of Christiansen’s initiatives was in strengthening connections among dental professionals in countries around the world.

After a trip to a dental school in Israel in 1978, even before he was at U-M, he came away convinced that American dentists, educators and researchers needed to develop fellowship and cooperation with their colleagues in different coun tries, including faculty and student exchanges. That conviction became reality in 1985 when he helped establish the International Union of Schools of Oral Health. It included U-M and dental schools in several countries, including Japan, Israel, England, France, Switzerland and China. During his time as dean, he

formalized relationships between U-M and nine international schools of oral health.

In 1987, in part acting on his belief in the value of new leadership, Christiansen chose not to seek a second term as dean. (While dean, he was also director of the school's W. K. Kellogg Foundation Institute for Graduate and Postgraduate Dentistry.) He spent the rest of his 13 years at the dental school as a professor in the orthodontics department. He retired from the university in 2000 as Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus.

In retirement, his commitment to interna tional cooperation led Christiansen and his wife to make a major financial gift to the dental school to establish the Richard Christiansen Collegiate Professorship in Oral and Craniofacial Global Initiatives. The professorship is currently held by faculty member Dr. Carlos González-Cabezas, who was director of the school’s Global Initiatives program for several years and still leads students on international trips. Students and faculty provide clinical care to underserved populations and interact with dentists and dental schools in the host countries.

Christiansen said the couple’s long-time support in the form of major financial gifts to the U-M dental school is an effort to ensure the long-standing excellence in academics, dentistry, research and science will continue well into the future.

“I have been inspired by the profession, the university, the school, the faculty, the staff, the students and the graduates. All were and are great,” Christiansen said. “And thanks to Nancy, my dear wife, for her great support in this journey.”

Fall 2022 | M Dentistry 31 ALUMNI

He sold it for dental school tuition ...

38 years later, he owns it again

In 1983, Michael Kehoe had just been accepted to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and he needed cash to help pay the tuition. He made the very difficult decision to sell his prized possession, a bright red 1980 Corvette.

He had purchased the car three years before after graduating from high school in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Kehoe worked at his father’s sheet metal business in Warren to save up money to buy the car. The previous owner was a General Motors executive who had put only about 2,500 miles on it in six months. For the three years Kehoe drove the Corvette as a college student, its striking finish and contrasting interior turned heads everywhere he went.

Kehoe didn’t want to give up the car, but he was determined to go to dental school and eventually become an orthodontist. “My education was the most important thing,” he said. So he sold the Corvette for $13,500 to a Warren Consolidated Schools teacher. The teacher tried to console him by telling him that someday he would own another Corvette.

Kehoe turned his attention to his career goals. He finished his undergraduate degree at Oakland University and entered dental school at U-M, where the money from the sale of the Corvette paid for his first-year tuition.

After earning his DDS in 1988, he practiced for three years in Grosse Pointe Woods and then completed a master’s program in orthodontics at Temple University in Philadelphia. He started his own orthodontics practice in Romeo in 1996 and worked there until he retired at the end of 2020.

One night last year, he was asleep at his home in Dryden, Mich., when the phone rang. It was his brother, Bob. “He was so excited,” Kehoe said. Bob wanted him to immediately go online to Craigslist where he had noticed a Corvette for sale. “Bob said, ‘I think it’s your old car.’” Kehoe refused to get up and look that night, but he checked it out on Craigslist the next day and he was fairly certain his brother was right. Kehoe had kept the Corvette’s original paperwork and was able to verify the vehicle identification number. He decided to buy back his prized possession from all those years ago and he ended up paying the same price he sold it for in 1983. The Corvette, now with about 94,000 miles, had the original tires, which were bald. Kehoe bought a new set, had the car detailed and plans to mostly drive it to car shows.

The Corvette is still turning heads and Kehoe is thrilled to have it back. “It’s just the memories of having that car. When I sold it, I felt terrible. In the long run, it all worked out.”

32 M Dentistry | Fall 2022 ALUMNI

Photo by Patricia O’Blenes, C&G Newspapers

Alumni News

Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk (DDS 1978, MPH 1982) received the Women’s Health Symposium Phenomenal Woman Trail blazer Award, which was presented at the annual convention of the National Dental Association in Phoenix, Ariz., in July. The award cited a 2021 book – “Undaunted Trailblazers: Minority Women Leaders for Oral Health” – compiled by Woolfolk and two co-authors, who also received the award. Woolfolk, a Professor Emerita of Dentistry and Assistant Dean Emerita for Student Services, teamed with Dr. Shelia S. Price and Dr. Jeanne Sinkford to collect life stories from 31 women, including the three authors, who have made contributions advancing oral health over their lifetimes. “On behalf of the women dentists of the National Dental Association … we are all enormously proud of the publication of your inspiring book,” said Dr. Cheryl Lee, president of the NDA. Price is a professor and associate dean for admissions, recruitment and access at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry. Sinkford was a professor and dean of the Howard University College of Dentistry in Washington, D.C., the first female dean of an American dental school.

Dr. David Boden (DDS 1981, MS 1985) of Port St. Lucie, Fla., received the President’s Award from the Florida Dental Association in June. Boden, a periodontist, served as the 2021-22 president of the association and was credited with helping to lead Florida dentists through the pandemic recovery process. Boden has held numerous leader ship roles at the local, state and national levels, including serving as president of the Treasure Coast District Dental Associa tion; executive committee member of the Atlantic Coast District Dental Association; FDA Board of Trustees member; Chair of the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Ethics, Bylaws, and Judicial Affairs; and as Florida delegate to the ADA House of Delegates. He is also a member of the Florida Association of Periodontists, and the American Academy of Periodontics.

“Dr. Boden is a firm believer in giving back to organizations that have helped him,” said

Drew Eason, executive director and CEO of the FDA. “His leadership and dedication over this past year have been instrumental to both the oral health of Florida and the dental profession, as Florida dentists continued to navigate the recovery from COVID-19.”

Dr. Daniel J. Rejman (DDS 2003) of Castle Rock, Colo., was elected a director of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) in May by the American Association of Ortho dontists (AAO) House of Delegates. Each ABO director represents one of the eight constituent organizations of the AAO and serves an eight-year term, which culminates in the position of president. Dr. Rejman, who represents the Rocky Mountain Society of Orthodontists, will become president of the ABO in the 2029-30 year. ABO directors are responsible for establishing policy regarding board certification of specialists in ortho dontics. Dr. Rejman owns Meadows Ortho dontics, a two-location practice in Castle Rock. He attained ABO certification in 2007 and was recertified in 2013. A member of the College of Diplomates of the ABO, Dr. Rejman has served as its president for the 2021-22 year. He is a member of numerous other regional and national professional organizations. He was named Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2021.

Pediatric dentist Dr. Yoshita Patel Hosking (DDS 2012) of Viera, Fla., received the Florida Dental Association’s Special Recog nition Award in June. Patel was recognized for advocacy efforts to protect community water fluoridation (CWF) and the oral health

of residents follow ing the removal of CWF in Mims, Fla., and for her work volunteering with the Space Coast Health Foundation to provide dental care to disabled and underserved children. Last year, she also collected school supplies and personal hygiene products for more for more than 75 disadvantaged children in Mims. Her fluoride advocacy included speaking at county commissioner and city council meetings around Brevard County supporting water fluoridation and providing scien tific evidence of its benefits at a time when communities were considering whether to continue CWF. She also wrote an advocacy opinion piece that was published in a Florida newspaper. “With all the misinformation shared about safety and efficacy of fluoride, it’s important that we as oral health profes sionals with a background in oral systemic health remain the vocal spokespeople for CWF,” she said in an email interview. “Our national and state level support for CWF has been incredible and I’m grateful to be a part of organized dentistry and advocate for our community’s overall health.” Patel is married to another U-M dental school alum, Michael Hosking (DDS 2012), an endodontist who also practices in Viera.

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Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk Dr. Daniel J. Rejman Dr. David Boden Dr. Yoshita Patel Hosking

Why I Give...

Dr. Brandon Shoukri (DDS 2015, MS

orthodontics 2018)

Diplomate, American Board of Orthodontics; Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at the U-M School of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry

Brandon Shoukri is a native of metro Detroit and earned his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University. After receiving his DDS and completing a three-year ortho residency at U-M, he became board certified and joined the practice of another U-M dental school alumnus, Mary Beth Moenssen (DDS 1995, MS orthodontics 1998) in Dexter, Michigan. He is an adjunct faculty member at the dental school and serves in leadership roles in various professional organizations. He is on the board of the Michigan Association of Orthodontists as Past-President, having recently finished his term as President representing the organization’s 350 members. He also completed a term as chair of the Council on New and Younger Members of the American Association of Orthodontists, and is a member of the AAO Committee on Technology. Brandon and his wife Bianca live in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with their three children. Below, he explains why he returned to the school as an adjunct and supports it financially.

“There are countless reasons why the University of Michigan is the No. 1 dental school in the country. I received an incred ible education, quality clinical and research experience, and developed life-long rela tionships with faculty, staff and peers. The professors and adjunct faculty served as great mentors in shaping me to be the clinician and person that I am today.

“Going out into the workforce, I realized quickly that my University of Michigan education prepared me to treat even the most difficult cases. The School of Dentistry

Dear Alumni, Donors and Friends,

We are delighted to inform you that our team has been working diligently to identify new and more engaging ways to recognize and thank you for your loyal and generous support!

Our Honor Roll of Donors program is evolving. While you will not see the traditional print version of the Honor Roll of Donors in this magazine anymore, we have several new ways to say “Thank You” for all you do.

helped shape a stable foundation for me to build from. I am dedicated to giving back to the school that afforded me the opportunity be in the greatest profession in the world where I can positively influence many future generations to come and improve the quality of life for my patients.

“Because I am extremely grateful for the experience, I decided to give back by teaching as well as helping financially over the years to support future U-M dentistry graduates. My passion and connection to the university has inspired me to make it a

priority to mentor and continue promoting exceptional healthcare.

“I am a firm believer in developing scholarships for students to help offset the rising cost of tuition and provide resources for the school to remain the best in the country in all categories. If you are blessed to be in the position to give back, I encour age you to help continue the legacy of the school in promoting professional and educational excellence.”

You can now use the QR code at right to go directly to our online donor stewardship page. This page on the School of Dentistry website will be updated regularly. The way we thank and recognize our supporters will continue to transform, so please check back often.

In addition, we hope to welcome you soon to the newly renovated School of Dentistry where we are completing an exciting new feature honoring donors. Your names will soon be displayed on the electronic donor wall positioned in one of the most highly traveled areas in the dental school. Students, faculty, staff and patients have already been viewing and commenting on the initial design of the wall. So much of what happens at the School of Dentistry would not be possible without your support. We are excited to both recognize your giving and inspire others in this new and exciting way. GO BLUE!

With gratitude, Carrie Towns Senior Director, Alumni Relations & Development

To access the online stewardship page, use the QR code or go to the School of Dentistry website https://dent.umich.edu and click on the “Alumni & Giving” link at the top of the home page.

M Dentistry | Fall 2022 34 ALUMNI

Carrie Towns

Farewell Photo

Students, faculty and staff gathered in the school courtyard in May for a group send-off for Dean Laurie McCauley shortly before she assumed her new role as Provost of the University of Michigan. A banner wishing her well was hung on the side of the school and this photo commemorated the event.

We want to hear from you. Send us news about your achievements, awards or honors.

Send Us Your News! 35 Fall 2022 | M Dentistry ALUMNI

Contact: SODalumnirelations@umich.edu University of Michigan | School of Dentistry 1011 N. University | Ann Arbor, MI 48109

In Memoriam

William J. O’Brien of Saline, Michigan, a Professor Emeritus of Dentistry at U-M, died June 21, 2022. A dental materials specialist, he joined the U-M School of Dentistry as an associate professor in 1970, was promoted to professor in 1973 and continued his world-class research until retiring in 2010. He previously was a faculty member and chair of the Department of Dental Materials at Marquette University. He earned his PhD from U-M in 1967. His research focused on the esthetic properties of restorative materials derived from composites and ceramics. He also studied the strengthening mechanisms of ceramics for use as dental crowns and as inlays to replace amalgam

restorations. He received continuous grant funding for 32 years from such agencies as the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Dental Research, the Surface Science Laboratory, and Delta Dental. He was the principal investigator of a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research Materials Science Center and director of a National Institutes of Health training grant in biomaterials. He published numerous articles in leading journals, contributed to several textbooks, held four U.S. patents, and was president of the Dental Materials Group of the International Association of Dental Research for 35 years.

Joan (McGowan) Schmerl of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, a longtime Dental Hygiene faculty member, died March 25, 2022. She taught in the dental hygiene program from 1973-2008, retiring as associate professor emerita. She held five degrees earned over a period from 1962-84: an RDH and a master’s from the University of Detroit, a bachelor’s from the University of Kentucky, and an MPH and PhD from U-M. Throughout her career, she worked with public health departments and initiatives, particularly for children, in the area of community health. An early success was in designing and implementing a topical fluoride program at a summer camp for tuberculosis-contact

children in Gregory, Michigan. When she joined the faculty at the U-M dental school, she started in the pediatric clinic. In 1975 she was asked by the State of Michigan to become dental coordinator for the state’s Head Start program. She also served as the state’s coordinator of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program. In that role, she gave presentations around the state and trained thousands of dentists, dental assistants and hygienists in how to incorporate a tobacco-cessation program into the dental office, as well as adding it to dental schools’ curricula. From 1980-98 she also was a lecturer in community health programs in the Department of Epidemiology in the U-M School of Public Health.

Susan Seger, who helped thousands of dental students during the 31 years she was head librarian at the School of Dentistry, died on Aug. 22, 2022, at age 87. A longtime resident of Ypsilanti, Michigan, her career started in Dental Hygiene by earning her bachelor’s degree at U-M in 1957. She worked as a hygienist for four years, then returned to U-M for a teaching certificate and a master’s degree in library science. After a year at the U-M School of Business library, she joined the dental school library in 1966 and continued in that role until

retiring in 1997. Among her accomplishments was moving the dental school’s extensive library from its previous location in the 1908 building to the new (and current) building completed in 1971. Over the years, she expanded the collection, making it one of the most comprehensive dental libraries at any dental school. In 2008, Seger received the Dental Hygiene Program’s Outstanding Alumna Award.

36 M Dentistry | Fall 2022 ALUMNI

Philip Warren, a longtime orthodontics professor and later adjunct at the dental school, died May, 4, 2022, at age 83. After earning his DDS in 1964 and MS in 1968 from U-M, he built an orthodontics practice in Plymouth, Michigan, and was a clinical associate professor at the dental school from 1968-86. He returned as an adjunct lecturer from 1992-1996, then moved to Bogota, Colombia, for two years. In 1998, Dr. Warren returned to Ann Arbor with his wife, Dr. Maria Lucia Pinzon, and they both taught at the dental school while operating separate orthodontics practices, his in Brighton and hers in Ann Arbor. He continued on the faculty, as an adjunct clinical associate professor, from 2001 until he retired in 2014. Dr. Pinzon remains a faculty member as an adjunct clinical associate professor in the Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry department.

Gary J. Arnold (DDS 1975), Lake Forest Park, Washington, September 3, 2022.

Donald R. Briggs (DDS 1953), Grosse Pointe, Michigan, June 27, 2022.

Angelo Michael “Mike” Cucci (DDS 1987), Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sept. 29, 2022.

Ronald Cucuro (DDS 1961), Port Austin, Michigan, formerly of Lapeer, May 27, 2022.

Sally Ann Deck (BSDH 1967, MSDH 1969), East Lansing, Michigan, August 30, 2022.

Patricia (Misiolek) Dunn (BSDH 1953), Clarkston, Michigan, July 15, 2022.

Danny Galloway (DDS 1966), Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sept. 14, 2021.

Stephen G. Goodell (DDS 1977), St. Louis, Michigan, May 13, 2022.

Dr. Richard C. Graves (DDS 1954), Grand Rapids, Michigan, September 20, 2022.

Joey “Jo” (Lyons) Hagan (BSDH 1958), Port Orange, Florida, Sept. 7, 2022.

Peter C. Hanson (DDS 1967), Oldsmar, Florida, May 30, 2022.

Melville Donald Hayes III (MS orthodontics 1979), Wilmington, Ohio, May 25, 2022.

William A. Heisel (MS orthodontics 1958), Walloon Lake, Michigan, May 23, 2022.

John D. McMahon (DDS 1958), Park Ridge, Illinois, Aug. 11, 2022.

Gene T. Miller (DDS 1962), Chelsea, Michigan, Aug. 28, 2022.

Charles A. Murray (DDS 1955), Birmingham, Michigan, Sept. 1, 2022.

Michel S. “Butch” Nasif (DDS 1972), Lansing, Michigan, March 28, 2022.

Gerald (Jerry) E. Nieusma (DDS 1966), Morgantown, W.V., Aug. 7, 2022.

Richard J. Sambuchi (DDS 1974), Port Austin, Michigan, formerly of Bad Axe, Michigan, Aug. 25, 2022.

Dr. Jeffrey C. Schubert (DDS 1973), West Branch, Michigan, August 30, 2022.

David H. Seibold (DDS 1954), Grand Haven, Michigan, Sept. 9, 2022.

Thomson L. Sun (DDS 1969), Los Angeles, California, August 20, 2022.

Gerald L. VanderWall (DDS 1955, MS endodontics 1971), Grand Rapids and Grand Haven, Michigan, February 24. 2022.

Roger L. Visser (DDS 1960, MS 1962 orthodontics), Virginia Beach, Virginia, Oct. 8, 2022.

Dean H. Walker (DDS 1971), Tempe, Arizona, April 4, 2022.

James Zanner (DDS 1966), Puyallup, Washington, Nov. 17, 2021.

James Zboril (DDS 1965), Rochester Hills, Michigan, May 1, 2022.

Fall 2022 | M Dentistry ALUMNI 37

Clark

Thank You, Donors Tristan

DDS Class of 2024

Hometown: Macomb, Michigan

Undergraduate Degree: BSDH, University of Michigan

“My two siblings and I are first-generation college students. I received my bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene in 2018 and always planned to attend dental school. After working two years as a hygienist, I was accepted into the DDS program in 2020. Given the high cost of dental school, I am grateful for the alumni and donors who share their resources for the benefit of current students. Any amount of scholarship assistance is greatly appreciated and helps significantly!”

Address Service Requested 1011 N. University Ave. | Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078

M Dentistry - Fall 2022

For the University of Michigan School of Dentistry Community | Fall 2022

Blue Renewed!

Dea n ’ s Message

ON THE COVER

FEATURES

SCHOOL

In this Issue 2 11 22

DENTAL HYGIENE

FACULTY RESEARCH

STUDENTS

School’s Major Renovation Marks

Marks Start of New Era

What's New?

Giving Credit for Success

School Thanks Alumni and Friends

Search for New Dean is Underway

Interim Dean Jan Hu Leads School Through Transition Period

Dr. Lee Jones’ Life and Career Celebrated

Cristiane Squarize Appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Gisele Neiva Leads Dental Technology Initiative

Interim Chair of BMSP

Gray in Leaders Program

Sindecuse Spotlight

Artifacts from the extensive collection at the dental school’s Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry

Cone-shaped Steel Lamp

Sindecuse Museum Featuring Two New Exhibits

School Assists at Special Smiles Clinic

Faculty Notes

Faculty Pro f ile

Dr. Larry Salzmann: Pediatric dentistry is rewarding; teaching it is even better

RESEARCH Research News

SPONSORED RESEARCH AWARDS

National Institutes of Health and Other Federal Agencies

Foundations, Industry and Other Awards

DENTAL HYGIENE Graduates Return to Help Celebrate DH Program’s Centennial

Outstanding Alumni Awards Presented for 2021, 2022

Leadership Change Announced for Dental Hygiene

Inaugural DH White Coat Ceremony

STUDENTS

STUDENTS

DDS Class of 2026 Arrives from Around the Country

Class of 2022 Graduation

All in the Family

Then and Now

Big Smile at the Big House

Alumni Pro f ile

Amy Coplen (BSDH 2002, MSDH 2009)

Finding her niche –and national recognition –in Dental Hygiene education

Richard Christiansen Reflects on His

Days Leading the Dental School

He sold it for dental school tuition ...

38 years later, he owns it again

Alumni News

Why I Give...

orthodontics 2018)

Dear Alumni, Donors and Friends,

Farewell Photo

In Memoriam

Clark

Thank You, Donors Tristan

DDS Class of 2024

Articles inside

M Dentistry - Fall 2022

M Dentistry - Fall 2022