As Steven E. Haas, D.M.D., J.D., M.B.A., begins his tenure as dean of the School of Dentistry, he brings a can-do philosophy and a wealth of experience in dentistry and academic leadership. He recently answered a few questions to help UMKC students, faculty, staff and alumni get to know him.
Q. What’s the biggest challenge or obstacle you’ve had to face?
A. My father passed away unexpectedly when I was 20. We had very little money, no insurance. My father was a New York City taxi cab driver, and I knew the business. I thought about dropping out of dental school, driving a cab for a year or two to get us on more stable financial footing, and then going back. Luckily I had a very strong mother, a wise one who refused to let me do that. She said there was no guarantee I’d go back. “You stay in.” And she made it through somehow, for my brother and me.
That’s the thing about obstacles. They’re obstacles until you move them. And it may take time and lots of work, sometimes more resources, but they can be moved.
Q. Besides dentistry, you have earned degrees in law and business administration. Why did you keep going back and adding to your knowledge?
A. It’s funny, because my brother is a prosthodontist, graduated first in his dental class. There’s no doubt that he’s the more intelligent of us two. But I have a greater drive for more knowledge; I’ve always been interested in why things are reasoned out the way they are.
Even as I finished dental school and my residency and specialty degree, I was always interested in a law degree. I did some work with a lobbyist on New York state legislation, and work on dental malpractice insurance costs and reviewing cases in which disciplinary action against dentists was considered. When my mentor, a dentist attorney, said he had never regretted adding his law degree, I went back to school, and really it was one of my best experiences.
Q. And the M.B.A.?
A. I had management responsibilities – director of hospital residency at University Hospital Stony Brook in New York, and then directing clinics at Nova Southeastern University after a move to Florida. And I realized I had to learn how to deal with people and move people into the direction that we felt the school should go. I needed good leadership training, and my M.B.A. gave me a ton of skills I still use in leadership style, change management and conflict resolution.
Q. Do you have family?
A. I have four children – ages 30 and 27, with my first wife, and 10 and 7 with my current wife, Luana Oliveira. She’s a dentist, too, from Brazil. We met at Nova Southeastern, and she’s in Florida now in an advanced educational graduate dentistry program. She’s been in academia for a long time, but she’s still learning a lot in this program and wants to get her American dental degree.
Q. What do you like to do outside work?
A. I have three passions that I like to spend time on. I’ve been a runner since high school, and I love running, though one hip doesn’t cooperate as much as it used to. And I’ve gotten into weightlifting, so I enjoy fitness a lot. I also like alternative progressive metal rock – bands like Shinedown, Stone Sour and Halestorm. Not the sort of music most people listen to, but it’s interesting.
Q. And some of your hopes for the School of Dentistry?
A. You can feel the tradition at this more than century-old institution, in its commitments to research, diversity and inclusion, and exceptional clinical instruction. You can feel it in the deep involvement of alumni and dental associations, and support from its Rinehart Foundation. I’m excited to build on that record of achievement and hope to lead the school and its faculty, staff and students into the future. It’s gratifying as a manager to get everyone rowing in the same direction, and then to see others achieve great things.
About Dean Haas
Steven E. Haas comes to UMKC from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln, where he served as associate dean for clinical affairs and interim chair of the Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry. He received his D.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, his J.D. from Touro College Law Center in Huntington, New York, and his M.B.A. from the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida.