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$2.7 Million in Grants Foster Dental Branch Diversity
Programs targeted at increasing recruitment and retention
of underrepresented students
and faculty members
A new $1.53 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to establish a Hispanic Center of Excellence at The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston is just one of two sizeable grants that the dental school has been awarded to promote diversity.
Dental students, from left, Berenisse Mares, Jaser Diaz and Carin
Doughty glance over the
shoulder of Leslie Scruggs as she shows
them the “tooth” she shaped earlier that day.
Each of these
students participated in the Dental Branch Summer Enrichment
Program,
which is similar to a new summer program funded by
the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. Photo by Brian Schnupp
The other is a $1.2 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which will be shared with the UT Medical School at Houston, to establish a summer education program that seeks to assist underrepresented students in being successful in the pipeline for admission into medical and dental school. The first summer program will take place in 2006.
Hispanic Center of Excellence
The Dental Branch is already moving full speed ahead with its charge to become a Hispanic Center of Excellence.
The HCOE will assist in increasing the number of competitive Hispanic applicants to the Dental Branch from the school’s six partner Hispanic-serving institutions — UT Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, UT El Paso, UT Pan American, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University Kingsville, and Texas A&M International University.
Paula O’Neill, Ed.D., associate dean for educational research and professional development, will serve as principal investigator, while Phil Pierpont, D.D.S., associate dean for student and alumni affairs, will serve as director of the project.
“We are delighted that we have the opportunity to advance the mission of the Dental Branch through the establishment of a Hispanic Center of Excellence to provide culturally competent oral health care providers for the people of Texas, especially those regions most in need, such as the areas of South and West Texas,” O’Neill said. “The Center of Excellence places emphasis on the recruitment and performance of Hispanic students by establishing a pipeline of qualified Hispanic dental applicants and subsequent matriculants/ graduates who may become dental faculty members.”
Additionally, the grant will assist with the recruitment and retention of Hispanic and other underrepresented faculty and offer them unique faculty development opportunities, as well as the opportunity to participate in research concerning Hispanic oral health and cultural health care issues that are important to the practice of dentistry.
Paula O’Neill, Ed.D.
Activities planned for faculty development will increase their ability to achieve promotion, tenure and advancement to administrative positions.
“It is also important to note that an institution must have a history of success in these kinds of efforts before they are given serious consideration for a grant of this size,” Pierpont said. “We have already demonstrated a commitment to diversity, which helped with our application significantly.”
In the 2001-02 academic year, Hispanic enrollment at the Dental Branch sat at four percent and by the 2004-05 academic year had risen to 17 percent, according to the grant abstract. The abstract also makes it clear that the Dental Branch isn’t concerned just with getting students in the door, but also makes sure that they come out. Four-year graduation rates for Hispanic students are near 100 percent.
With so much already being accomplished in the area of diversity, the HCOE grant will multiply the success. The grant will help fund Dental Admissions Test preparation and mentoring, along with support programs and seminars.
Pierpont likes to look at the bigger picture when it comes to discussing the benefit of these grants.
“Sure, we are proud that the Dental Branch received the funding. But ultimately it is not about the school,” he said. “The ultimate benefactors of programs like these are the underrepresented and underserved populations who are in severe need of quality health care. If underrepresented students are recruited to be dentists, mentored properly and graduate, then there is a strong possibility that they will go back and serve in those areas that need them the most.”
Careers in Medicine and Dentistry
On top of the Hispanic Center of Excellence grant, the UT Dental Branch has received $1.2 million to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP), an enrichment program for freshman and sophomore college students interested in pursuing careers in medicine and dentistry.
The Dental Branch will collaborate with co-applicant UT Medical School on program management and oversight and will partner with San Jacinto College to assist with the basic science curriculum over the four years of the grant. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Dental Education Association administer the program, which seeks to create a more diverse medical and dental workforce.
“This grant will allow us to move forward with our shared mission to assist rising sophomore and junior students in enhancing their knowledge, skills and attitudes to make them more competitive and improve their chances of becoming successful applicants to either a medical or dental school of their choice,” said O’Neill, who is principal investigator.
Pierpont and Andrew Harper, M.D., assistant dean for educational programs at the Medical School, will be project directors of the program.
The program will host 80 students each summer for four years. The schools will reach out to the target population by drawing upon prior experience in programs directed toward those from minority, socio-economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as underrepresented populations.
Recruitment efforts will target seven Historically Minority Serving Institutions under current partnership, local, regional and statewide colleges and universities, along with San Jacinto Community College, where the curriculum content will be coordinated by Ann Tate, head of the college’s Math/Science/Art Institute.
By Erika E. Durham, Public Affairs