Ann Arbor, MI — June 29, 2010 — Dr. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch has been named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. The announcement of the appointment was made today by Dean Peter Polverini who said Murdoch-Kinch “is a highly regarded teacher by the students she instructs in the dental hygiene, predoctoral dental, and graduate and specialty programs.”

Board certified in oral and maxillofacial radiology and in oral medicine, Murdoch-Kinch was a clinical associate professor of dentistry in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry prior to her selection. For the past two years she has also been co-leader of a team that is developing the science foundation component of the curriculum innovation initiative that will be launched in July by the School of Dentistry.

As associate dean for academic affairs, Murdoch-Kinch will oversee the DDS curriculum, chair the Curriculum Committee, and serve as an ex-officio member of Academic Review Boards and Multicultural Affairs Committee.

Murdoch-Kinch is responsible for the faculty and staff in the Office of Academic Affairs. The group provides a broad range of services that includes developing and enhancing the academic structure and educational experience for students, faculty, and staff. The Office of Academic Affairs provides personal, academic, financial, and career counseling to students in areas such as dental student admissions, financial aid, student registration, orientation, graduation, and other activities and events.

Murdoch-Kinch earned her dental degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1985 and a PhD from Indiana University in 1996. In addition to practicing dentistry and teaching part time in Canada and Indiana, she also held a faculty appointment at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry for six years prior to joining the faculty at the School of Dentistry in 2000.

In 2001 she joined the Dental Faculty Associates at the U-M School of Dentistry and the medical staff at the University of Michigan Hospitals. Since 2005, she has been a member of the U-M Health System’s Comprehensive Cancer Center’s head and neck oncology program.

Active in organized dentistry, Murdoch-Kinch has served in leadership roles including president of the Central Branch of the Detroit District Dental Society, councilor for the oral and maxillofacial radiology section of the American Dental Education Association’s Council of Sections, president of the Organization of Teachers of Oral Diagnosis, and director and secretary of the American Board of Oral Medicine.

In 2008, Murdoch-Kinch was elected a Fellow of the American College of Dentists and also awarded a Fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected to serve as associate dean for academic affairs, especially at this time of great challenge and opportunity for our School and our profession,” Murdoch-Kinch said. “I am looking forward to working with our faculty, students, and staff to help maintain our standards of excellence as we lead the profession in a new model of dental education.”

Murdoch-Kinch succeeds Dr. Marilyn Lantz who was associate dean for academic affairs since 2000. Lantz continues to teach at the School of Dentistry as a professor of dentistry in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine.

Contact: Sharon Grayden, Communications Director (734) 615-2600, dentistry.communications@umich.edu, or Jerry Mastey, Editor, School of Dentistry (734) 615-1971, jmastey@umich.edu.