I hope you enjoyed February's first-ever, school-wide Research Day as much as I did.  Dennis Mangan and his team of faculty, staff and students organized a wonderful day of scientific lectures and posters representing innovation and discovery at the School of Dentistry and the divisions of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, and Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy.  It was stimulating, fun and the food was terrific! Thank you Dennis and your team.  I can't wait until February when we do this again!

I also want to celebrate our students, staff, faculty and alumni of the USC School of Dentistry who continue to build upon our legacy of excellence.  Their accomplishments and service are at the core of the University's mission.

We are dedicated to learner-centered education, globalization, and research of significance to the larger society.  Every year, we serve many, many thousands of patients.  Every year we provide leadership in the oral health professions at the federal-, state-, county- and city-levels.   Every year we continue to expand the science of dentistry through cutting-edge research.  In every instance, I am so very proud of the quality of our citizenship and the scope of our service.

For example, last week I received the following letter celebrating the enormous contributions of two of our faculty:

Dear Hal,

I wanted to take this opportunity to call your attention to the work of two of your faculty members who have done an absolutely superb job in faculty development for USC faculty members.  These efforts are the results of their involvement in the Academic Leadership and Development Committee at USC.

Jennifer Holtzman (with Julie Nyquist) led an outstanding session on career development for non-tenure track faculty members.  The session had over 80 faculty members in attendance and was regarded as a resounding success.  Jennifer did an outstanding job conceptualizing and organizing the session, identifying session participants, working on event promotion, and moderating the event.  The comments from those in attendance indicated that the session had great value to them and that they wished to see more sessions like this in the future.  This session, which was held on the HSC campus, was open to all faculty at USC—but tended to draw those folks who work on the HSC campus.  Notably, Jennifer also worked to have a live feed of this session connecting those at the HSC Campus to those at Childrens Hospital— extending the reach of the session to faculty who might otherwise not have had the opportunity to participate.

Mal Snead led another outstanding session for ALD this past week— this one designed to prepare first- and third-year tenure track faculty for the tenure process . Mal also conceptualized and organized the session, having key faculty members such as Peter Clarke (chair of the UCAPT Committee) and Marty Levine describe the tenure review process.  The session allowed interaction among probationary faculty and seasoned faculty members to ensure that their questions regarding the tenure process were addressed.  Mal also designed a useful questionnaire that helps us understand the faculty development needs that exist as far as tenure preparation are concerned.  For example, his results showed that of those in attendance only 25% had met with their department chair to discuss the tenure process.

Congratulations on having such fine faculty members and great USC citizens among your school.  Thank you for sharing them with us!  Their efforts have been instrumental to the success of ALD.

Best wishes,

Debbie MacInnis

Vice-Dean of Research, Charles and Ramona I. Hilliard Professor of Business Administration, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

Please join with me in thanking both Mal Snead and Jennifer Holtzman for their terrific work within our University.  It is this type of effort and commitment that defines who we are as a community, as a school and as a university.  It is truly a wonderful time to be a Trojan!

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