The Dean’s Dinner

Twice a year, our school’s student body leadership and the dental school administration/faculty meet together over a nice dinner to join in a night of collaboration. It is a great forum for students to provide feedback, discuss issues, present goals and recognize achievements. Class officers from every year have opportunity to discuss issues with the entire school administration with all department chairs in attendance. Officers come prepared with issues to bring forward while the administration makes note of discussion items to be addressed. Later a report is sent out summarizing the decisions and actions taken regarding the various topics discussed during the meeting.

The Dean’s Dinner is a longstanding tradition established years ago by Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni and proudly upheld by Dean Ferrillo. What’s great about this event is that everyone in attendance shares in a common theme: how are we doing and how can we improve. This event not only facilitates discussion of important issues, it also effectively bridges the gap between students and administration enhancing the lines of communication.

Naturally, students and administration/faculty do not always agree on how to address every issue, however, the fact that such a collaborative tradition exists sends a resounding message to students/faculty/staff that student concerns are important and that it is a priority of the administration to listen and collaborate.

Events such as the Dean’s Dinner are traditions that make students proud to be apart of the Pacific family.

Emerson Lake
Student Body President
University of the Pacific
Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

ASDA Annual Session in Scottsdale, Arizona

The Dugoni School of Dentistry ASDA Chapter had an extraordinarily successful weekend at the ASDA 2008 Annual Session in Scottsdale, Arizona! Below find a summary of the awards, honors, and accomplishments that were achieved:

–The Articulating Paper was honored with the ASDA 2008 Best Newsletter in Competition Award. We acknowledge and congratulate the co-editors, Jamie Parado ‘09 and Marisa Watanabe ‘09, as well as faculty advisor Dr. Ruchi Nijjar and all the other contributing writers. They all consistently produce an outstanding paper for everyone to enjoy.

–Our Dugoni ASDA Chapter recieved the Ideal ASDA Chapter Award for Outstanding Membership & Communication. We also recieved an honorable mention for the overall Ideal ASDA Chapter. We recognize and give thanks for the great time and effort exerted into the 165+page application compiled and submitted by Past ASDA Chapter President Brian Black. This application is a spiral-bound book documenting virtually every activity, fundraiser, event, etc., accomplished last year. Over the past year Brian has been a tremendous ASDA President who has been a great example of leadership and advocacy for ASDA and the Dugoni School. Nice work Brian and all others who contributed to the Ideal ASDA application!

–Nima Aflatooni, Current ASDA Chapter President, was elected District Trustee of the 11th District. In this national position, Nima will proudly represent Pacific while serving as liaison and advocate for all five California dental schools. He will attend all national meetings and work closely with the ASDA Executive Committee. Way to go Nima!

–Brian Black, Nima Aflatooni, Ryan Wilgus, Allyson Staahl, Dan Hammer and I sponsored (i.e. authored) resolution 203RC-2008 which resolved that the ASDA Council on Education determine the most reasonable means to obtain data regarding clinical graduation requirements of all dental schools and produce a document summarizing this data, to be made available for distribution to ASDA members and to be updated annually. With a recommendation from the chair of the Council of Education to adopt the resolution with a yes vote, and following spirited discussion, the 108 member house of delegation voted to adopt resolution 203RC-2008 with a yes vote! 

One of the headlining issues during this annual session was the consideration of a mandatory fifth year of dental school education for dental students nationwide (similar to a GPR or AEGD type program) It was argued by the presenters that such plan could both benefit students and address the issue of access to care. Of course the vast majority of students disagree with a mandatory fifth year of school. It was remarkable to hear, however, during presentations, caucuses, and discussion sessions how often our school was mentioned as an example that it is possible to produce highly competent practitioners in only three years time! Our school stands out amongst all other schools for all that we are able to accomplish in such a short period of time. We have something special and unique here at Pacific for which we should always remember, uphold, and be grateful.

Emerson Lake
ASB President
University of the Pacific
Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

My First Dental Student Blog

Greetings, Pacific family and other visitors to the new dental university website. My name is Emerson Lake, the current Student Body President. I look forward to contributing to this new blog with hopes of providing a student’s perspective to those interested in knowing more about life here at Pacific. Of course I welcome any comments or questions that you may have about anything I blog about, and I will try my best to provide prompt responses.

So with introductions out of the way, I am happy to report that it is great to be back into the full swing of things as a third (and final) year Pacific dental student. The reality is that in the third year our clinic time doubles that of the previous year! All of a sudden, there are a lot more patients to manage, appointments to schedule and lab work that seems to never end. In this last year, we are tying together all that we have learned from the various disciplines over the past two years and applying it as we meet the needs of our patients down in clinic.

If the first few weeks of this new academic year are any indication, then the next ten months will fly by so quickly we won’t know what hit us!