No Images? Click here Greetings from the Dental Alumni Association! We’ve just wrapped up another successful year at the DAA. Our four annual events allowed Alumni to reminisce and reconnect with each other. Also, and almost more importantly, the events allowed our Alumni and current students at the School of Dentistry to engage with other and build relationships that are of a benefit to all. The focus for this next year will to more actively engage the learners at the School of Dentistry at a much earlier stage of their time at the School. The Dental Alumni Association should become a valuable part of the Student experience throughout their learning years. This will give us an more engaged Alumni and one that continues to want to give back to students and the School. Let’s build and grow the Alumni Circle of Life! Stay tuned for another fabulous Dental Alumni year! Dr. Mintoo Basahti UAlberta SMILES now online! Our latest edition of UAlberta SMILES is now available to read online. We've covered a variety of topics for our general public audience such as, "Is lemon water good for your teeth?" and "Why your doctor may ask you about your sex life?" Read these article and others in the publication. If you would like to request a copy for your patient waiting area, please email cheryl.deslaurier@ualberta.ca Convocation Spotlight: Rachelle Pratt When Rachelle Pratt began her career in the dental hygiene profession little did she know her chosen path would lead her to a life-long passion of learning and teaching. Pratt graduated with her diploma in dental hygiene in 1997, her bachelor of science in dental hygiene in 2002, and today – June 12 – she is graduating with her masters of education in health science education. Convocation Spotlight: Emily Ervin Emily Ervin is the 2019 recipient of the Alberta Dental Association & College (ADA&C) gold medal. This award is given to students with the highest academic standing. Ervin’s dedication and focus stemmed beyond her academic success as well. She was actively involved in the DSA Charity Ball, served as class president, executive member of the DSA, and many other fundraisers like the annual Sock Drive, holiday hampers, and the yearbook committee. Congratulations to all DDS 2019 grads! Congratulations to all our 4th year students who proudly walked across the convocation stage, June 7. All your hard work has paid off and we wish you all the best in the future! 2019 U of A DDS graduates Check out the DDS 2019 graduation and convocation video! Congratulations to everyone! Video credit goes videographer Danny Co (https://www.facebook.com/dcofilms/). View the DDS Banquet photos here. Photos taken by Wilson Maldaner Photography. Congratulations to all DH 2019 grads! Our Dental Hygiene graduates proudly walked the Jubilee stage, June 7. We want to congratulate each and everyone one of you and we wish you all the best in your future! Do you have a passion for special needs dentistry? The School of Dentistry is looking for a part-time instructor position to fill one day a week on Fridays at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Dental Clinic. Fourth-year exit survey - summary of results Each year as our new graduating students exit the program, we have them complete an exit survey – you may remember this as you may have completed one yourself when you were graduating. In any case, this survey is an overall evaluation of the program and its courses. Over the last few years, we are seeing a gradual improvement on how the students feel about their overall learning experience and because of this we wanted to share a summary with you. Help dentistry alumni write the next chapter With your ideas and input, you can make a difference within the dentistry alumni community. We are currently recruiting for members to join the Dental Alumni Association (DAA). The DAA is a group of volunteers who work to help our alumni stay connected with the School and with one another. We host several events -- the reception at the PDC and a reception at the ADA&C conference where we commemorate classes who are celebrating an anniversary year and recognize our Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Our goal as an association is to help improve the student experience. We meet with the students every year and host them for a fun night of burgers and beer. At this event we bring an alumnus guest speaker to talk to the students about their experiences and the differences between being in school and being in practice. We also host the students’ convocation luncheon and present the DAA awards and scholarships. We are very proud to raise funds for our students. If you are interested in making a difference, please consider joining the DAA as a member. Email your interest to Katrina Tarnawsky at ktarnaws@ualberta.ca. Survey coming.......... Early in the fall, we will be issuing an alumni survey as we've done previously, to the past five graduating years (2013-2018) to collect data related to how they feel the U of A dental program prepared them for practice. Grads from the last five years will be able to give us responses that are more reflective of how things are running today. This information will be used by the school’s Curriculum Committee to continue to enhance our program, as well as this information will contribute to our accreditation process and curriculum renewal. The survey will be brief, anonymous and used solely for the purposes stated above. We are excited for the opportunity to hear from our alumni and gain feedback into how we are doing. This insight will be extremely valuable for us as we move forward in our planning, and will continue to strengthen our profession; therefore, we encourage you to respond if you receive this survey. |