In the wakes of Hurricane Harvey, which struck Texas in August, and Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which struck Puerto Rico in September, ADEA and the dental education community mobilized to provide relief to dental school students, faculty, and their communities affected by these storms. ADEA provided a financial donation to help with recovery efforts at the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston. ADEA and the ADEAGies Foundation also established a relief fund for the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine (UPR SDM)—100% of the gifts received support direct recovery and relief efforts. In addition, an ADEA staff member travelled to Puerto Rico to deliver supplies donated by ADEA staff members to UPR SDM.
Support the academic dental community in its mission to meet the evolving oral health needs of a diverse society.
ADEA and Our Members Provide Hurricane Relief to Colleagues
SHPEP Summer Enrichment Program Continues Its Success
The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) wrapped up the interprofessional education pilot in mid-July. SHPEP is a free, six-week summer academic enrichment program for rising sophomore and junior students in college who are interested in health professions careers. Each of the 13 sites consisted of a dental school, medical school, and at least one other health professional school, and over 1,000 undergraduates participated. Data trends from the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) (the former iteration of SHPEP) were presented at the annual SHPEP National Grantee Meeting in December. The data showed that from 2006 to 2015, 64.4% of SMDEP predental participants applied to dental school, and 69.8% of those applicants matriculated. Additionally, over the 10-year period, almost 500 dentists were graduated who participated in SMDEP, and of those, 132 came into the summer program as pre-medical and changed to dentistry.
Third ADEA Diversity Workshop Held
ADEA 2017 Diversity Workshop Series: A Shift in Diversity Work: Moving Toward Inclusive Excellence was held Oct. 25 in Columbus prior to the ADEA Fall Meetings. This workshop aimed to help attendees better understand that promoting inclusion is about more than demographics. Sixty-eight participants from 35 institutions gained knowledge on practice strategies they could implement within their home institutions through a highly interactive working group session.
ADEA Hosts Minority Dental Faculty Development and Inclusion (MDFDI) Training Program
In March 2017 in Long Beach, CA, the ADEA/W. K. Kellogg Foundation (ADEA/WKKF) Minority Dental Faculty Development and Inclusion (MDFDI) Training Meeting was held to build on lessons learned from the six-year ADEA/WKKF Minority Dental Faculty Development (MDFD) program that involved 11 U.S. dental schools. A highlight of the meeting was the keynote address, provided by Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., who was U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1989-1993 and founding President of the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1975. He spoke about federal policies and private philanthropies that support diversity in the U.S. health workforce.
Interest in Dental Professions Continues to be Strong
ADEA has continued to witness a consistent interest in the dental professions during the most recent completed cycles of ADEA’s application services—AADSAS® (dental school), PASS® (advanced dental education programs), CAAPID® (dental education programs accepting international dentists) and DHCAS® (allied dental education programs). In the last ADEA AADSAS cycle, there were 11,500 applicants to dental school. Of these applicants, for the first time, 50% were non-white and/or women. Applications to advanced education programs indicated that applicants were interested in periodontics, prosthodontics and endodontics, corresponding to new CODA standards on implant dentistry in those specialties. ADEA DHCAS saw a 12% increase in applicants, and ADEA CAAPID experienced growth of 10%.
Additionally, the ADEA GoDental® website is more popular than ever, with over 100,000 monthly visitors and tens of thousands more consuming our content via inboxes, newsfeeds and live events. The GoDental social media channels experienced a surge in readership over the year, as has the ADEA GoDental Newsletter, which has over 37,000 subscribers.
The 2017 events targeted to those interested in dentistry experienced record numbers of registrants and attendees:
- The 2017 ADEA GoDental Virtual Fairs for prospective dental students was expanded to two days—one focusing on learning about ADEA AADSAS® and the other providing direct interaction with dental school admissions representatives from 50 U.S. dental schools (four new schools participated for the first time in this event). On the first day, 1,000 attendees logged in and 991 logged in on the second day. In total, including a 30-day archive period after both events, 3,592 individuals registered for the event and 2,057 (57% of registrants) attended.
- With over 1,000 registrants and nearly 650 attendees, the 2017 ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event was a great success. Maj. Gen. Roosevelt Allen, D.D.S., Director of Medical Operations and Research and Chief of the Dental Corps, Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, opened the event as the keynote speaker.
- ADEA CareerCon was hosted on October 1 and 2. A total of 102 people registered for the event, which offered over 30 prerecorded presentations as well as a keynote address.
ADEA Publications News
- On July 18, ADEA launched a new online interactive tool for dental school applicants, the ADEA Dental School Explorer. The tool features the dental school profiles published in the 2017–2018 ADEA Official Guide to Dental School The information—which can be viewed on a computer, tablet or smart phone—is searchable by key word and filterable by institution type, targeted entering-class size, DAT total science score, science GPA and location (state, territory or province).
- The online ADEA Directory of Institutional Members and Association Officers received several new features to enhance the user experience and a visual refresh to match the look of the ADEA website, including an interactive U.S. map, enhanced search capabilities (e.g., search by key words in members’ titles), and a “favorites” feature.
- The popular 2017–2018 ADEA Snapshot of Dental Education infographic booklet was published in the fall and the data and related infographics remain available for members’ use on the ADEA website.
Journal of Dental Education Publishing Audit and Reader Survey Conducted
ADEA partnered with Kaufman Wills Fusting & Company to conduct a Journal of Dental Education (JDE) author and reader survey and publishing audit. Not surprisingly, the JDE is highly regarded by its readers, and ADEA is implementing several recommendations to improve the JDE. For example, work began on migrating the online JDE to a new platform with more features and a new cover is being designed, both of which will be completed in 2018.
Journal of Dental Education Global Reach Continues to Expand
The Journal of Dental Education’s (JDE) global standing as a desirable journal remains high. In 2017, the JDE received submissions from 46 countries. Additionally, the JDE experienced a record number of PDF article downloads—379,033, compared with 359,177 in 2016. In 2017, the top countries by submission were the United States (217), Brazil (43), India (40), Canada (24), China (17), Turkey (14), and Saudi Arabia (12). In 2016, the top countries by submission were the United States (195), India (57), Brazil (44), Saudi Arabia (25), Japan (16), Turkey (13), and Canada (12). In 2017, the Google translate feature on the JDE website was expanded from 90 to 103 languages.
ADEA Embarks on “Listening Tour” With Members
In August the ADEA Membership Department conducted the first in a series of “listening tours” to hear directly from faculty and deans about their needs from the Association and share information about ADEA’s priorities and work that benefit them personally and professionally. The inaugural visit was to Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Dental Medicine, and the second visit was to University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. Additional stops are planned for 2018.