If you are a member of the Trojan
Family this is a remarkable time in USC football history—ranked
#2 in the nation and waiting patiently for the results of the
December 6 game with Oregon State (and beyond). Coach Pete
Carroll and his leadership team have done a superb job in
recruitment, education and
training, building teamwork and the value added measure of
providing inspiration. We wish USC success!!!
December is a time for
reflection as this calendar year begins to fade and as we
anticipate the New Year. This is also a time for active
planning as many of us work together to raise the bar on our
individual and collective academic performance. One part of
this annual activity is the fall planning and budget process
that requires a look at the immediate past goals and
performance, and those goals that we presently are addressing.
These are not all of the goals and objectives being addressed
by the School of Dentistry, but they are the major goals
developed by the school for the accreditation process of the
Commission on Dental Accreditation (2001), the school-wide
strategic plan "Shaping The Future" (2001), the
University Academic Program Review (2001-2002) and the annual
fall planning and budget process directed by USC's Provost
What follows relates specifically to the goals and objectives
as presented in our School of Dentistry strategic plan
"Shaping The Future" (2001-2006).
What were
the five most important goals for the 2002-2003 academic year,
and how did we perform?
Goal I.A Phase
implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) completed by
the year 2005.
Three classes (freshman,
sophomore and juniors) have been recruited and accepted into
the new USC PBL curriculum/pedagogy as planned. The applicant
pool remains robust, entering class academic credentials are
even better and dental student performance on National Board
Part I has improved. In Spring 2003, 41 of 140 students earned
scores over 90 percent on Part I. The International Student
Program has been completely integrated into PBL with the
enrollment this year of 32 foreign dentists accepted as junior
year equivalent transfer students. Faculty development efforts
in credentialing all faculty in the PBL pedagogy are in
progress and scheduled to be completed by June 20, 2004 with
100 percent certification of all faculty. In addition, a team
has been created o critically monitor and evaluate the USC
School of Dentistry PBL story. In three years (2000-2002), the
overall grade point average of accepted freshmen increased
from 3.42 to 3.45; retention has increased and now
approximates 97 percent; on time graduation now approaches 84
percent; graduates passing the Western Regional Board on first
attempt has reached 100 percent; and graduates applying for
advanced specialty programs increased to almost 18 percent.
Candidly, a process of this magnitude has been most
challenging.
Goal I.B Expose students to
real-world problems and academic health professional
experiences enabling students to pursue a broad range of
professional career pathways.
A plan has been designed and is
being implemented to provide students and residents with
"service learning" clinical opportunities that both
span the human lifespan (pregnancy through elderly and hospice
care), geography (from Bakersfield to the California-Mexican
border) and type of clinical venue (mobile, temporary, fixed
operatories and hospital-based clinics). We now have 14 sites
for Mobile Clinics with eight days spent at each site. We have
multiple hospital sites (LAC + USC Medical Center, Childrens
Hospital, and Long Beach Miller Memorial) as well as
community-based programs at such sites as Hollenbeck Home,
Children's Dental Center in Ingelwood, USC/URM Dental Clinic
and QueensCare/USC Mobile Clinic for student and resident
rotations. We have gained grant support to enhance these
efforts as well as in-kind gifts from major dental companies.
Candidly, these extramural opportunities require much more
faculty development, training, accountability and calibration
than was originally anticipated. We have created a new office
of quality assurance, and we have created a new M & M
committee for the School of Dentistry. Quality improvement is
a major new orientation for the USC School of Dentistry.
Goal II.A Streamline and
coordinate school-wide systems through information technology.
A plan has been designed and is
being implemented to provide school-wide, enabling
connectivity through information technology. The plan required
the creation of an office of information technology and the
recruitment of staff support; student, resident, staff and
faculty training; the purchase and installation of many
hundreds of computers-one at each clinical operatory; the
purchase of axiUm software, installation and training; and
ongoing maintenance and upgrade training. We completed all
aspects at the new Oral Health Center, a facility that served
as a beta site for axiUm at USCSD. We went "live" in
the Norris Dental Science Center on September 3. We are
presently installing axiUm at our first extramural site, the
USC/URM Dental Clinic. We are using Mobile Clinics in a "teledentistry"
project. Candidly, this effort has been met with various types
of resistance to change yet continues to advance. By July
2004, we will have completed the first major phases to meet
this goal. We are advancing toward the use of informatics to
assist with school-wide academic programs as well as the
management of patient care and records/databases. During the
2004-2005 year, USCSD will be able to "mine" all
types of information for analysis and planning activities.
This technology further enables faculty and staff research
activities on many different levels.Goal II. C Increase
clinical scholarship and peer reviewed clinical research.
Dental and medical education is
becoming increasingly science- and evidence- based. The major
driver for these changes in curriculum include basic,
translational, clinical and health outcomes research. Several
years ago, we drafted a plan to develop numerous faculty
development opportunities to advance their clinical research
interests and skills. Hundreds of hours have been dedicated to
faculty development. In addition, targeted recruitment for
full-time faculty has been advanced, and we have hired a
number of faculty with high expectations to either foster or
enhance their research performance at USC. We hired a
molecular biology neuroscientist with joint appointments in
LAS and dentistry. We hired several full-time faculty in the
problem areas of oral medicine and chronic facial pain. We
hired a new tenure-track faculty with expertise in
biomineralization. We also recruited and hired a new tenured
faculty member in dental and biomaterials sciences. We hired a
large number of full-time clinical faculty associated with our
community-based programs. We increased the number of residents
from eight to 12 in the AEGD program. We are initiating a new
residency program in Oral Medicine and Chronic Facial Pain.
Candidly, this remains a
promising avenue towards faculty-directed research prominence
at the School of Dentistry and the university. New research
space enables the recruitment and retention of outstanding new
research faculty! The School of Dentistry needs an additional
50,000 square feet of biomedical research space that will
enable the school to advance to #1 in federally- sponsored
research national rankings. New space and new research faculty
will also contribute to the university rankings in federal
grant support and the number of distinguished faculty members
as fellows in American Association for the Advancement of
Science and the National Academy of Sciences. Through joint
appointments this strategy will also enhance other colleges
and departments at USC. This is the key to academic eminence
for USCSD and beyond.
Goal III.B Increase focused
community outreach.
In our mission statement we
declare, "We are committed to improving the health of all
people through education and training, innovation and
discovery, community health outreach, and leadership." We
are dedicated to service learning programs, and we have
designed our educational programs to provide clinical service
learning opportunities that extend from prenatal care through
elderly and hospice care, from mobile to fixed facility care
and from Bakersfield to the Mexican border, thereby enhancing
opportunities to gain competencies to address the needs of
culturally diverse people throughout Southern California. To
realize this goal, we have increased the number and diversity
of extramural community-based clinical learning opportunities
for our students and residents, and increased external funding
through foundation as well as grant and in-kind gift support
for these activities. In July 2003, we received a $1.2 million
grant from the California Endowment. We also received a major
in-kind gift from Colgate and a monetary award from Proctor
and Gamble. Other in-kind gifts and partnerships are in
progress. We are advancing our efforts to increase the
cultural diversity of our faculty, staff and student body with
particular attention to historically underserved populations.
I am particularly proud of the fact that this year we have
successfully recruited five full-time clinical faculty who
represent these populations.
What are
the five most important goals for the 2003-2004 academic year,
and how can we measure USCSD performance with respect to these
goals?
Goal I.A Phase
implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) completed by
the year 2005.
To meet this goal and evaluate
progress, we need to continue the phased implementation and
evaluate our progress. We need to continue to measure and
evaluate student academic performance by such indices as
scores on parts I and II of the National Boards. For example,
USC increased in National Board ranking from 37th of 47
schools in July 2000 to 21st of 50 schools in 2003. We need to
measure and compare USC scores with other dental schools. We
need to continue to provide faculty development in all aspects
of PBL, measure and evaluate faculty participation, continue
efforts to produce PBL distance learning products and continue
efforts to calibrate all faculty and staff.
Goal II.B Support
innovations with physical infrastructure.
To meet this goal and evaluate
progress, we need to plan, design and build a research space
related to the Norris Dental Science Center by 2006; plan,
design and renovate the fourth floor of the Norris Dental
Science Center; and plan, write and submit a research faculty
infrastructure grant to the NIH by April 2004. We must measure
and evaluate research space; peer-reviewed NIH funding and
faculty publications, and the number of new research faculty
hires. We need to increase recruitment of "magnet
faculty" around major scientific themes such as biofilms
(infection and oral mucosal immunity) or biomineralization
that will foster increased research activities within the
School of Dentistry as well as between USCSD and other USC
colleges/departments through joint appointments or formal
scientific collaborations. We need new or major renovated
space and research faculty!
Goal II.E Increase endowment
and other related development for distinguished faculty
postions.
To meet this goal and evaluate
progress, we need to increase the number of endowed faculty
chairs; increase the number of endowed student and resident
scholarships; measure gifts and pledges, estate planning,
number of gifts, etc.; increase alumni participation; increase
estate planning gifts; increase foundation and corporate
giving; and increase development staff and available
fundraising time for the dean.
Goal IV.A Foster high
profile, creative collaborations with the Pacific Rim and
Latin American countries.
To meet this goal and evaluate
progress, we must increase multinational exchange programs
between USC and countries such as Mexico, Japan, Taiwan and
Korea; increase local, regional and Pacific Rim continuing
education programs; increase research collaborations; and
create an international center for oral health professions. We
need to measure and evaluate multinational participation in
USC continuing education courses and the number of research
and training collaborations including the numbers of postdocs,
and/or visiting scholars.
What about
progress in our goals related to "critical operational
factors"?
Progress in this cluster of
functional school-wide activities can be measured by the
creation of a new office of faculty and staff human resources;
further optimization of a new office of quality assurance,
communication publications and Web site; evaluation and
assessment programs for faculty, students and staff; and
quality improvements in patient management systems related to
axiUm. And, we must measure and evaluate faculty, staff,
student, and patient and community satisfaction.
I hope this relates a sense of
our chosen directions and purpose as we shape the future. I
further hope this outline conveys our dedication to advancing
excellence at USC!
Happy Holidays!
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