Barry Daneman

The hardest of all hard things to do,” Woodrow Wilson once observed, “is make progress.”  And this has been a hard year in which to make progress.

Nonetheless, despite adversity — depressed markets, a recession, terrorism, war, budget cuts, Medicaid cutbacks — the School of Dentistry has made progress in many areas. It's been a difficult year, but a good one.

In July and August 2001, after three years of development, we installed our electronic clinic management system in the undergraduate clinics. And thanks to the generosity of the Dental Alumni Association and Rinehart Foundation, we placed chair-side computers in each of 225 student cubicles.

In October 2001, when Kansas City hosted the American Dental Association's Annual Session, we opened the school for a reception and tour and showed everyone interested in the future of academic dentistry exactly what it looked like.

We changed our undergraduate curriculum and expanded opportunities for community outreach. Through our Partner-ship for Smiles and Rural Pediatric Outreach Programs, we sent over 150 students and nine faculty members into the field, where they treated over 10,000 low-income patients.

Here at the school, we expanded our Emergency Clinic to 14 chairs, recruited a dozen alumni to serve as WOC (without compensation) faculty members, and treated another 8,000 low-income patients.

On average, this past year, we saw 2,200 patients per week in our various clinics and outreach programs.

Our Midwest Dental Conference drew 3,650 participants and hosted reunions for 11 classes, every five years from 1947 to 1997. The Pouring from the Heart gala, which raises funds for the UMKC Oncology Dental Support Clinic, netted over $70,000 at its dinner and auction.

Our research program was rewarded for its years of outstanding performance with a $2.5 million construction grant from the National Institutes for Health. This grant has been matched by the University of Missouri with an additional grant of $3.5 million and will enable the school to add and equip two new research laboratories totaling 14,000 square feet.

After a two-year study of workforce needs in Missouri and Kansas , the School of Dentistry decided to increase the size of the entering D.D.S. classes. In August, when the first-year students arrive, there’ll be a total 100 students beginning dental school.

And finally, despite a year of economic upheavals and uncertainty over the future, our alumni have been as generous and giving as ever. Their contributions to the School of Dentistry and Rinehart Foundation are up about 25 percent over last year. In total, we received nearly $1.5 million in gifts from alumni and friends.

As we look to the year ahead, there's much to be thankful for and much to give us optimism. Please don't hesitate to call the Alumni Office at 816-235-2060 or 800-887-4477 if we can be of service to you. And, please, visit our website at www.umkc.edu/dentistry. As Yogi Berra once said, "There's a lot you can observe just by watching."

Explorer Summer 2002 Index