NC-HCAP News

Dr. Carolyn M. Mayo, Executive Director of NC-HCAP, presents the 2006 NC-HCAP Leadership Award to UNC School of Dentistry dean, Dr. John Williams.

North Carolina Health Careers Access Program recognizes the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry with 2006 Leadership Award

07.15.06

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.– The North Carolina Health Careers Access Program (NC-HCAP) presented its 2006 NC-HCAP Leadership Award to the UNC School of Dentistry, recognizing the school’s efforts to recruit, admit, retain and graduate underrepresented minority students. Dean John N. Williams accepted the award on behalf of the school.

The award presentation took place July 14 at the closing ceremony NC-HCAP’s Science Enrichment Preparation (SEP) Program. Other school officials in attendance at the presentation were Tom Luten, director of student services and clinical assistant professor of dental ecology; Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, associate professor of dental ecology; and Dr. Sylvia Frazier-Bowers, assistant professor of orthodontics.

The UNC School of Dentistry leads the nation’s majority dental schools in the enrollment of underrepresented dental students. Minority students make up 20 percent of the school’s student body, and 2006 school statistics show 65 African American, Latino and American Indian dental students enrolled.

Dr. Carolyn M. Mayo, executive director of NC-HCAP, said the program was pleased to publicly recognize the UNC School of Dentistry’s effective strategies in increasing underrepresented minorities in general dentistry and graduate dental specialty areas.

“There appears to be a steady march toward minority population parity on the part of the dental school. They have been equally assertive in reviewing and modifying the dental school’s curriculum to incorporate concepts of cultural awareness, sensitivity and application of same into the daily clinical education and training of their students.”

The North Carolina Health Careers NC-HCAP also extended special recognition to the following School of Dentistry faculty and staff members for their “tireless personal and financial support” of the SEP Program, mainly through the school’s Robert Wood Johnson Dental Pipeline Project:

· Dean John N. Williams and Dr. John Stamm, former dean of the school and now professor of dental ecology, “for being visionary leaders in promoting a school climate of educational excellence and inclusiveness for all of the people of North Carolina”;

· Tom Luten, “for his outstanding student recruitment and retention efforts”;

· Dr. Ron Strauss, principal investigator, and Dr. Janet Southerland, co-principal investigator, of the Robert Wood Johnson Dental Pipelin Project, “who continue to provide exceptional leadership and guidance to the RWJ initiative”; and

· Faculty and staff affiliated with the RWJ grant team.

The North Carolina Health Careers Access Program is making a positive difference in the lives of students in North Carolina and in the provision of health care to the state’s population, said School of Dentistry Dean John N. Williams.

“It brings me great satisfaction to see that many of the talented students we support together are going on to apply to the UNC-Chapel Hill schools of dentistry and medicine or other health professional schools,” he said. “School of Dentistry faculty and staff members have made a sincere commitment to increasing health career opportunities for underrepresented minorities in our state, and this good work will continue. We deeply value our partnership with the North Carolina Health Careers Access Program and are honored to receive the 2006 Leadership Award.”

NC-HCAP, based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is an inter-institutional program of the University of North Carolina system designed to improve the overall health of North Carolinans by increasing the number of underrepresented minority students who successfully pursue health careers.

The NC-HCAP Leadership Award is given annually to individuals or entities who have proactively sought out and implemented strategies to increase underrepresented minorities in a health sciences discipline and/or who have worked in partnership with NC-HCAP to support its mission and activities. Past recipients of the award include: Eva Clayton, Dr. E. Lavonia Allison, Dr. Robert Thorpe, Larry Keith, Dr. Clay Simpson, the NC Area Health Education Centers Program, the UNC Office of Minority Affairs and the NC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

For more information about the Leadership Award or the North Carolina Health Careers Access Program contact NC-HCAP at (919) 966-2264 or visit our Web site at http://nchcap.unc.edu.