Student ambassadors build bridge to future
Along with academic credentials and an impressive résumé, Kari Cunningham began dental school with strong encouragement from her family and dedication to a career goal that she had had since childhood. What she didn’t have were many student colleagues who were also African American.
“I came to my dental school interview and I knew there was at least one other minority student at the dental school,” said Ms. Cunningham. “Months later I went back to the admissions office and said it would have been nice to have met her on my tour of the school.
“I stayed late that day after my interview so that I could introduce myself,” added Ms. Cunningham, now a senior dental student at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine. “I think it’s important at that early stage for a minority student to meet another minority student. It sends a message that yes, it is possible; you can thrive in this dental school.”
Ms. Cunningham’s experience has become one of several ideas now being explored and fostered through the ADA Student Ambassador Program, the recruitment process in which students take the lead in coordinating introduction to dentistry programs with an emphasis on recruiting underrepresented students. Through a variety of activities and outreach, college and high school students are invited to discover the art and science of dentistry and encouraged to pursue it as a career. The four-year-old program is coordinated by the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure.
Ms. Cunningham served on the Student Ambassador Program鈥檚 planning committee along with members of the Student National Dental Association, the Hispanic Student Dental Association, the American Dental Education Association Council of Students and the Society of American Indian Dentists Student Chapter. GlaxoSmithKline has generously funded the program since its inception. Dental schools are encouraged to sponsor a student or two and in 2009, 55 students representing 38 schools attended.
The most recent event marked another step forward in the evolution of the program, which focused on enhancing its collaboration with members of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. In October 2009, the Student Ambassador Program held its annual meeting in conjunction with the ADEA fall meeting in Dallas in order to facilitate communications with the dental school admissions offices鈥攎any of which share the same goals and values when it comes to recruitment of underrepresented students.
“There is a recognition that to accomplish what they need to accomplish, the ambassadors need to be able to touch base with a wide variety of individuals, rather than just go to college students and prehealth advisors,” said Dr. James Hupp, chair of CDEL’s Committee on Career Guidance and Diversity Activities and dean of the East Carolina University School of Dentistry.
Some institutions have a stronger mandate to improve diversity of their student bodies than others, added Dr. Hupp. At the 2009 event, the ambassadors discovered that about half the dental schools currently have students on their admissions committees.
Dr. Gregory Stoute, the National Dental Association’s representative to CDEL’s Committee on Career Guidance and Diversity Activities and director of minority affairs/associate professor, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, moderated the Student Ambassador Program鈥檚 panel discussion with admissions offices. Panelists included James Betbeze, director of admissions, University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry; Dr. Darryl Pendleton, associate dean for student and diversity affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry; David Dalsky, director of admissions, CWRU School of Dental Medicine; and Dr. John Killip, assistant dean for student programs, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry.
“We have been working to engage the health professions advisors at colleges, and now we are focusing on admissions and student services at dental schools,” said Dr. Stoute. “This is designed to help establish some continuity, and increase the awareness of the oral health profession for those advisors who have been traditionally focused on areas of medicine.”
Following the Student Ambassador Program, Dr. Stoute brought the ambassadors’ ideas for collaboration to the ADEA Admissions, Financial Aid and Student Affairs national meeting and proposed a pilot program at two dental schools: the University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The panel discussion with admissions offices inspired many student ambassadors to pursue interaction with their own admissions committees.
“It just encourages our ambassadors to go back and work with the admissions offices and start some new ideas at their school,” said T. Melina Rada-Johnson, a planning committee member from the Hispanic Student Dental Association and senior dental student at University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry.
Ms. Rada-Johnson was among students attending the program to gain ideas that UM and its new Diversity Enhancement Committee, which she co-chairs, can use in the recruitment of underrepresented students.
“The Student Ambassador Program shows that the profession sees changes are needed in order to serve the population of the U.S. and its changing demographics,” said Ms. Rada-Johnson. “The work of the student ambassadors is already having an impact on getting more underrepresented students interested in careers in dentistry, and I think this will help shape the future of dentistry.”
Guests at the 2009 Student Ambassador Program included ADA President Ron Tankersley; Dr. Jeanne Sinkford and Dr. Richard Valachovic of ADEA; and the North Texas Hispanic Dental Association and Dallas County Dental Society.
Moving forward, the ambassadors will continue their work in regional coalitions; expand communications through The Ambassador, the program newsletter; and develop strategies to expand student-to-student recruitment activities. Ms. Cunningham has already created a Student Ambassador Program group on Facebook. This year, the Student Ambassador Program will launch the Ambassador Award Program for outstanding achievement.
“I’m glad to see that the Committee on Career Guidance and Diversity Activities is engaging students in this process,” said Dr. Stoute. “By hosting meetings and forums for them to get together, we’re planting seeds for their future leadership roles in organized dentistry.”