Dean Polverini: Next 5 Years Crucial for School of Dentistry
Transformation, innovation, leadership all vital to continued success
"What we do in the next five years will define our future. We will either continue as a leader among dental schools nationally and internationally, or we will lose our relevance and run the risk of becoming pedestrian."
Dean Peter Polverini delivered that frank assessment to faculty, staff, and students at a town hall meeting March 24 as he unveiled his vision for the School's future and presented a list of strategic imperatives to help reach that vision. [See Strategic Imperatives.]
"I am determined that this School remains a leader among dental schools and continues to provide much needed leadership for our profession," he said.
Saying the dental school has both an opportunity and an obligation to further its reputation and that of the University of Michigan, Polverini said "major changes must take place without further delay. It is imperative we act now."
"Bold Steps" Needed
"Our vision is clear," he said. "The School of Dentistry will transform itself in a way that ensures that it continues to be recognized as a leader in interdisciplinary health care, continues to be acknowledged as a center of excellence in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, leads as an innovator in research and academic leadership, and is exemplary in providing access to the highest quality of oral health care for the local, regional, and global communities."
Reaching those goals, Polverini said, would require taking "bold steps" that include:
- Transforming dental education and dental practice.
- Innovations in research that advance science, dentistry, and the public's health.
- Educating students and dentists whose practice in oral health care is based on science who aspire to be leaders in academic dentistry.
- Educating students to become dentists who will continue to make a difference in local, regional, and global communities.
- Working to eliminate barriers to quality health care and oral health disparities.
- Positioning graduates and the dental profession to lead in creating a better and more patient-centered integrated health care system.
"What we do will be bold and risky," Polverini said. "But this is precisely what visionary organizations do, they lead."
The benefit of taking bold action, he said, would be that the School of Dentistry "will be more fully integrated into the future of the University of Michigan community and will play a central role in the University's decisions, discoveries, and contributions to academe and society."
A Three-step Process
The new vision statement and list of imperatives are the latest steps in the three-part strategic assessment process that began in March 2005.
At that time, a 21-member Strategic Assessment Facilitating Committee began conducting a self-assessment. That involved taking a critical look at the School and soliciting opinions and ideas from faculty, staff, students, and alumni and then developing a list of ideas about what the School's future could be.
Afterwards, the report was submitted to U-M Provost Teresa Sullivan and was also evaluated and discussed by a team of internal and external reviewers. The self-assessment process was completed in late 2007.
The second step was the vision statement and set of strategic imperatives that Polverini just presented.
The third step will involve developing a set of "action steps" to make the vision a reality. Polverini invited everyone to submit their ideas.
