The Reporter: June 1996, Vol.7, No.3
Reshaping Dental Education for the 1990s and Beyond
Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

In his landmark report to the Columbia Trustees in 1916, William Gies, a founder of Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery and professor of biochemistry at Columbia, presented his ideal for dental education on par with medical education, general dentistry training in a clinical setting devoted to service, and postdoctoral training in special areas of dentistry.

SDOS was the laboratory in which Gies tested his ideas, and I am happy to report that the school passes the Gies test with higher scores every year. Over the past decade, the school has reviewed the original vision and updated it for contemporary times. Using long-range and strategic planning methods, today's dental school continues to renew itself along those principles to meet the challenges and opportunities of our time.

The past seven-year period has been especially productive for us, although it is important to note that progress has come in a time of great odds against it. The school completed a $7.3 million capital campaign and strengthened all of its programs. Underlying the progress in the dental school is a spirit of willingness to view change as a positive force in achieving the school's aspirations and dreams. This report describes today's SDOS and projects our goals for the remainder of this century continuing into the next.

Sincerely,
Allan J. Formicola, D.D.S.
Dean, Columbia University
School of Dental and Oral Surgery