Alumna Profile
Joanne Dawley, DDS 1980
She didn't realize it at the time. But a telephone call that Dr. Joanne Dawley received in 1989 from the chair of the Membership Committee of the Detroit District Dental Society reinvigorated her career and opened new doors of opportunity. In May, she became the first black woman to serve as president of the Michigan Dental Association.
Photo courtesy of the Michigan Dental Association
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Michigan Dental Association in 2005, Dr. Joanne Dawley, who was chair of the Michigan section of the American College of Dentists at the time, presented a plaque to Dr. Josef Kolling who was then MDA president. Kolling is an adjunct associate professor at the U-M School of Dentistry.
Dawley, a member of the MDA since 1987, has served in other leadership roles with the MDA. Last summer she was elected president-elect of the 5,800-member organization. In 2001, she was elected to the organization's Board of Trustees. She has also served a one-year term as vice president and three years as secretary.
Talking about that 1987 phone call, Dawley recalled sitting in an office in the Wayne County dental clinic, where she was working at the time, "thinking to myself that dentistry was not the profession I thought it would be nine years after graduating from Michigan."
She said she felt professionally isolated because she didn't have any close colleagues she could talk to about dental matters or where she could go to learn more about the profession.
"Probably the Best Thing That Happened to Me Professionally"
"But Dr. Joseph B. Harris changed that," she said. Harris, a former State Board of Dentistry member, was calling nonmembers to encourage them to join organized dentistry.
"He asked me why, as a practicing dentist, I wasn't involved in organized dentistry," she said. Dawley said she let her ASDA (American Student Dental Association) membership lapse shortly after receiving her DDS from U-M in 1980.
"I offered several reasons," she continued, "but he would have none of it. He didn't accept any excuse. In retrospect, it was probably the best thing that happened to me professionally because I then began to participate in organized dentistry."
Later, another dentist, Dr. Edward Hirsch, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Detroit District Dental Society president, offered his encouragement and suggested Dawley seek leadership positions.
She also listened to Hirsch's advice.
"I'm glad I listened to both Dr. Harris and Dr. Hirsch because, as it turned out, they had a major impact on my career and my decision to become involved with organized dentistry," she said.
In addition to the leadership roles noted earlier, Dawley has served on the MDA's executive committee, chaired its public relations and communications committees. She has been past president of the Detroit District Dental Society, a delegate to the ADA's House of Delegates, and chaired the American College of Dentists Michigan section.
Born in Detroit, Dawley lived with her parents in Grand Rapids for four years before they returned to southeast Michigan.
"There were no dentists in our family, but one of my cousins was a physician," she said. "I knew, since I was about fourteen, that I wanted to be in health care and help people. But after listening to him, I decided being a physician was not for me."
Dawley said her mother liked the idea. "My dad was just very happy to have me going to college," she said.
