This is an exciting time at the University of Southern California. Provost Max Nikias, with the enthusiastic support of the Board of Trustees and our President Steven Sample, has championed the growth and further advancement of life-long learning as a vital part of the mission of the university. USC recognizes that open and active minds need continual stimulation of ideas, content and technology in the 21st century. USC is a forum and broker for open thinking, the flow of ideas, and multiple approaches to solve complex problems of significance to the larger society. USC is a major research-intensive institution that celebrates ideas and novel approaches to remedy social and global ills. USC has never been provincial, but rather a catalyst, for contributing to what is thought, what is taught and what is practiced in higher education.

Last year, Provost Nikias gifted multiple learning center facilities that enable distance learning across the University Park and Health Sciences campuses. One of these high-technology installations was built and installed in the Norris Dental Science Building on the first-floor in Blair Lecture Room C. On our behalf, Ilan Rotstein, associate dean for continuing professional education, and his team worked diligently with the Provost's team and made this become a reality. Ilan also hosted training sessions for faculty who wished to learn how to optimally utilize this distance learning technology to enhance CE courses as well as domestic and international Web-based seminars and exchanges.

In February of this year, Provost Nikias announced the creation of the USC Office of Continuing Education and Summer Programs.   A cornerstone of USC's commitment to lifelong learning, the new office is under the direction of Lynn Goodnight (lynngood@usc.edu). The newly created office is making extensive use of the recently upgraded, state-of-the-art facilities at the Davidson Conference Center, located on the University Park Campus.

In tandem and aligned with our University's goals and objectives, the USC School of Dentistry's Office of Continuing Oral Health Professional Education, under the leadership of Professor Ilan Rotstein and his team since 2003, have been truly responsive and  innovative in addressing the needs and interests of learners from around California, USA and beyond. I am personally thrilled with what has been and continues to be accomplished by Ilan. First, he has carefully aligned USC continuing education course catalog with the ADA, American Academy of General Dentistry, CDA, and California State Licensure goals and standards as well as with the various dental specialties. Second, Ilan has identified diverse talents from around the world to bring innovative thinking and approaches to our CE audiences while showcasing many of our USC full-time and part-time faculty. Third, he has crafted enormously innovative approaches to international CE offerings such as courses that are taught entirely in Spanish or Korean. Fourth, he has invented new opportunities at USC such as the new course by USC faculty designed for dental industry education and training (a so-called "mini-dental school" program). Ilan has also fostered opportunities for increasingly more USC faculty to participate in CE than ever before in the 110 year history of our School of Dentistry. The vast majority of teaching faculty for our CE courses represent full-time and part-time USC faculty. These extraordinary efforts, and so many others, have produced 70 course offerings per year, 4,000 participants per year, participants drawn from 20 different countries, and has fostered multiple international symposia, multiple travel and learning programs, multiple hands-on courses, and enormous respect from me, our Provost and beyond. Further, our CE Program under Ilan Rotstein has gained significant corporate sponsorships and continues to serve as a "revenue center" contributing much needed financial support to many academic programs within our School of Dentistry. Moreover, our efforts continue to grow, develop and make a difference.

Of course, the largest segment of the USA and international dental profession are general practitioners. It is a true credit to many, many oral health professional schools — general dentistry, dental specialty programs, dental hygiene programs, and dental technology programs (and beyond) — that graduates are inspired and motivated for lifelong learning in concert with the laws, standards of practice, and requirements for CE units in their respective communities around the globe. Ilan and his team have successfully met the learning needs and goals of the vast majority of practicing dentists through increased education and training in all aspects of oral health care. This approach, aligned with all governing agencies, provides a continual upgrade in the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of oral health care. This approach also benefits the levels of sophistication within general dentistry as well as within the various specialties and allied areas of interest. At no time does our USC approach attempt to replicate the depth and breadth provided within multi-year resident-level certificate education and/or formal graduate education with the University, rather it is complementary and illuminates the boundary conditions between general dentistry and the referral process to specialists.

And we will continue to asked "how are we doing?" and "how can we do better?" The demand for our courses is growing and we need more time and space to meet the demands. The science and technology of oral health care continues to rapidly evolve. The larger society asks that their health professionals stay current and "up-to-date" and set standards, guidelines and approvals for health professional CE education. Our University is exploring how to better set "standards" for course content and course faculty compensations across the multiple schools that comprise USC. The future is bright with opportunities.

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