We appear to be living in an age when all too much attention is being devoted to the failures of culture, civilization and social policy.  After reading the newspaper or watching the news on television,   Often I wish that I could receive a much-needed antidote to the negativism and pessimism that seems to pervade so much of our  lives.  One antidote for those of us who serve on the faculty and staff is the ongoing opportunities to learn with students here at USC. To learn with dental hygiene students, DDS students (including the ASPID program), residents in specialty programs, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and the daily opportunity to learn with one another in the School of Dentistry.  We also share this opportunity to learn with the biokinesiology and physical therapy students as well as with the occupational science and occupational therapy students.  For me these opportunities inspire hope and optimism for people who are shaping the future.  "Education is living and living is education!"

On Friday May 11th we celebrate  Commencement—the annual transition from student to alumni, the migration of energy and knowledge and skills from the University into the larger society.  It is spectacular!  We all gather to celebrate our students, their accomplishments and our personal efforts that nurtured, coached and mentored these remarkable fine young people.  We again celebrate the USC tradition of shaping the future through discovery and applications.  I want to congratulate all of our 2007 graduates and their families and acknowledge the untiring contributions from our faculty and staff. Cheers!

This month is also a time for reflection.  What have we learned from the academic year that has ended, and how will we improve for the 2007 - 2008 academic year that begins July 1st?  For our School of Dentistry community, measures of our goals and projections for our future will soon be found in the self-assessment that we are completing in preparation for Accreditation in April 2008.  Measures will also be found in our new school-wide strategic plan "Shaping the Future" that will be completed in Summer 2007 and provide a roadmap for 2007-2012. Other measures are found in the increased applicant pools seeking admission to USC and to the USC School of Dentistry.  We measure our student academic successes on national, regional and state examinations.  We measure our faculty scholarship through their lectures, publications and research activities.  We also measure patient care, patient satisfaction and our abilities to increase access to health care for underserved populations.  We are a learning organization that strives to improve.  Our faculty remain dedicated to shaping what is thought, what is taught and what is practiced in the oral health, physical therapy and occupational therapy professions.

Within our reflections we also must include the enormous progress being made towards globalization at the School of Dentistry through international faculty and students in learning venues; international research collaborations;  international faculty and student exchanges,; and an increased international presence of our Office of Continuing Professional Education in Mexico, San Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica, China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, as well as Italy, France, Germany and Russia.  For example, last month we signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the USC School of Dentistry and the Peking University School of Stomatology that fosters faculty and student exchanges and also stimulates interdisciplinary research activities.

At the same time, we must invest  and reinvest in infrastructure that supports education and learning, discovery and innovation, patient care and community health programs, and leadership and service to the larger society.  In this context, we are completing a feasibility study to build a new facility to enhance continuing professional education, quality of student life, and quality of faculty and staff life on the University Park Campus.  Included in this study are plans to renovate  the entire fourth floor to enable increased research activities.  In addition, we  plan to renovate the entire second floor of the Norris Dental Science Building and replace 152 operatories.  We are also investing to ensure a secure information technology infrastructure that supports so many aspects of our entire enterprise.

May is the 5th month of the Gregorian calendar and is symbolic of "the early vigorous blooming part of life."  In May at the School of Dentistry we celebrate the accomplishments of our young students as they "blossom"—making the transition from student to oral health professional. 

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