Ann Arbor, MI — March 12, 2010 — A University of Michigan School of Dentistry associate dean and professor, a professor and director of a leadership program, and a third-year dental student recently received national awards from the American Dental Education Association during the organization’s annual session in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Marilyn S. Lantz, associate dean for academic affairs and professor in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, received the ADEA/William Gies Foundation Education Fellowship during the organization’s opening ceremony on February 28.  During the three-month fellowship she will work with staff in the ADEA Center for Educational Policy and Research on a project that addresses important issues in dental education such as faculty recruitment, development, and retention; teaching strategies; competencies and their assessment; and accreditation and licensure.

Lantz has served as Councilor of the ADEA’s Section on Academic Affairs (2007-2010).  She has also served as liaison to the ADEA’s Committee on Change and Innovation in Dental Education, the Task Force on Professionalism in Dental Education, and the Task Force Policy on Applicant Misconduct in Admissions Processes.  Lantz is a member of the ADEA-Macy Curriculum Panel (2009-2010), a member of the American Dental Association’s Council on Ethics, Bylaws, and Judicial Affairs; the American College of Dentists Professional Ethics Initiative; and serves as president of the American Society for Dental Ethics.



Russell Taichman, a professor of dentistry in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, received the ADEA/Alpha Omega Foundation/Leonard Abrams Scholarship on March 1.  The leadership development award recognizes an individual who exhibits excellence in teaching and upholds the highest ethical and professional standards.

Taichman, who has been at U-M since 1992, is the director of the Scholars Program in Dental Leadership and an adjunct professor at the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts.  He was recently selected to participate in the ADEA’s Leadership Institute.  The program enhances the leadership skills of participants and offers insights into the legislative process and its effects on dental educational at national and state levels.







Evelyn Lucas-Perry, a third-year dental student who is also pursuing a master’s degree in public health, received an ADEA/Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Preventive Dentistry Scholarship on March 2.  The scholarship supports predoctoral dental students who have demonstrated academic excellence in preventive dentistry.

Lucas-Perry was nominated because of her strong sense of personal accountability and insists on high standards of care for her patients.  Her volunteer work in the community, active involvement in health initiatives, and service projects to help the underserved were also cited.  Her attempts to help shape future oral health care strategies and interventions designed to improve dental education and health policy that benefit the underserved were also lauded.


The American Dental Education Association is the voice of dental education for all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and postdoctoral dental education programs, corporations, faculty, staff, and students.  Its mission is to support individuals and institutions as they address contemporary issues affecting education, research, and the delivery of oral health care.  More information about ADEA is available on the Web at:  www.adea.org.

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.