The impact of giving | A message from the Dean

As the School of Dentistry continues to grow in innovation, scholarship, teaching and learning, and patient care, our points of pride also expand. And philanthropy has become a point of pride for us, fueled by the donations of our staff, faculty, alumni, and friends of the school—all of whom care about our ability to advance our mission and strategic priorities. I am extremely grateful for the continuous commitment and generosity of our donors. Each donation, no matter the size, allows us to recruit the best and the brightest students, onboard new faculty and support the academic growth of our faculty and school.

Over the last several years, the focus of our philanthropic priorities have included students, research, digital dentistry and endowed faculty positions. One area of significant donor impact is student scholarships. Four years ago, we decided to increase the available scholarships for our students, and charted a course to provide $5M in scholarships to our students annually. This journey has allowed us to increase the amount of actual individual scholarships each year. Over this period, we shifted our available scholarships from $864,650 in FY21 to $1,508,333 in FY24. This is directly due to the generous gifts of our donors. The Dentistry Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund has increased 95% since 2020. Your gifts have allowed us to give 10 new scholarships since 2020, and 63 endowed funds for student support. These scholarships provide our students a choice to practice independent of influence from educational debt. There is still more to do, but what an awesome milestone.

Endowed Fellowships, Professorships, and Chairs are excellent avenues to recognize faculty who make an impact in our profession either through their research, clinical care or academic focus. Moving forward, the goal to create 2-3 new endowed faculty positions remains. These endowments bring recognition to our school, and more importantly, they improve our ability to recruit new faculty and retain current faculty.

Although it is not to measure in dollars, the importance of the presence of our alumni is extremely important. Our thanks for the time you spend mentoring, teaching, providing lunch and learns and being role models for our students. You provide a fresh energy that is extremely synergistic and invaluable. Giving of your time makes such a huge impact on our students, and they will remember it for years to come.

For all the ways our donors and alumni show up and give to our programs, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and appreciate the difference that you make.