3 minute read
Dean's Message
Dear Alumni and Friends,
As I reflect about 2024, there is so much to be thankful for! The state of our school is strong because of the contributions each member of our community has made toward fulfilling our mission of educating, providing patient care and generating new knowledge. You will read about many of the highlights in this issue.
Moving forward, 2025 is going to be an especially important year in the school’s history because we will be celebrating the school’s sesquicentennial. It is with an immense sense of pride and responsibility that we commemorate the 150 years of excellence since the school’s founding in 1875. Anniversaries, particularly such a notable one as this, provide us an invaluable opportunity to stop and consider where we’ve been, how far we’ve come and where we want to go in the future. Please consider this my personal invitation to our alumni, donors and friends to join us for a series of events as we celebrate the 150th anniversary.
At the same time we are thinking historically, we will also look far ahead as we kick off a new capital campaign, called Look to Michigan, in conjunction with the overall university campaign announced in October. Fundraising has always been an essential pillar supporting the success of our school, dating to its earliest days. To maintain our well-deserved place of excellence and leadership in dentistry and dental education over the last century and a half, we must always be moving forward and anticipating the future. Our campaign will invite the support of alumni, friends and the entire School of Dentistry community. While we focus on continuing to enhance student scholarships and faculty initiatives, the renovation of our research tower also is a critical component of our fundraising efforts. Since opening in 1971, the research tower has housed researchers such as Bob Craig, Kamal Asgar and Walter Loesche who transformed the practice of dentistry. However, the research tower was not renovated during Blue Renew and is no longer suitable for 21st century science.
Our cover story shares more on the importance of our Look to Michigan campaign, followed by compelling examples of generous gifts the school has received recently from alumni, the Henry Schein Cares foundation, an estate and the son of a 1938 alumnus.
As we celebrate our history and the start of the new capital campaign, we encourage our community to engage with us so that we may all pull in the same direction. Our north star will always be to lead dentistry and dental education. We hope you will join us and make 2025 one of our best years yet!
Sincerely,
