Making a difference | A message from the Dean

For the past few years, our development team has made a huge impact for the School of Dentistry. Lead Development Officer Emily Best and her team have been instrumental in reaching record breaking giving levels. In a time of fiscal uncertainty, and dramatic change in higher education funding, the efforts of the school’s development team contribute to our mission of advancing oral health by coordinating many programs and events like the Summer Celebration of Donors, the Summer Research Program Alumni & Friends luncheon, Alumni Weekend, Dinner with a Dentist, Lunch and Learns, Dean’s Circle Dialogues, regional events in partnership with the University of Minnesota Foundation, and receptions at the ADA and Chicago Midwinter meeting. These events provide opportunities for attendees to hear from our students while learning about what’s happening at the school. I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to meet our alumni and donors during these gatherings. Thank you to all of you who have been able to participate in one or more of these programs.

In 2021, Dentistry launched the Learners to Leaders campaign to increase support for student scholarships. With the national average dental student debt nearing $300,000 based on the 2024 graduating class, these scholarships are immensely important. We are thrilled that our donors and partners have blessed us with approximately $6.7 million in donations towards student scholarships. 

You can see by the graphic below that this has allowed us to increase our disbursement to students each year, and this past year we gave more than $2 million to our students. We desire to have five million available annually for scholarships; giving to this area is still a very high priority. I often say that we want our graduates to have a choice of what they do after graduation, and not have their debt make the choice for them.

We are also grateful for the support from our donors for the establishment of named endowed faculty positions over the past five years. We currently have 7 endowed faculty positions, having added two over the past five years. These endowments allow our faculty to make significant achievements in research and service that would otherwise not be possible. This giving area also remains a priority, as funding from institutions like the National Institutes of Health remains questionable. We are also thankful for the newly established School of Dentistry Advancing Discovery through Research fund, and are hopeful that it will continue to grow and be a resource that contributes to our goal to be ranked in the top ten in research funding.

When I started as dean, I established a specific fund for the capital improvement needs of the school, as it was clear that in the coming years renovations would be essential. A big thank you to all who have contributed to the Dentistry Capital Investment fund so far. We also proposed to University leaders that the school begin plans to renovate our facility, and I am thrilled to report that President Cunningham listed the Dentistry Clinical Renovation in her six-year capital request to the UMN Board of Regents this past fall. The renovations in our building are now the highest philanthropic priority, and all gifts to our capital improvements are essential at this time.

I am thankful for each of you, for your contributions and your advocacy with legislators. You make the future possible.