Ann Arbor, MI — March 25, 2011 — The American Dental Education Association recognized three faculty members, one student, and an alumna from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry during the organization’s recent annual meeting in California.  They were:

Dr. Marilyn Lantz, professor in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine and former associate dean for academic affairs, was one of nine leaders from across the nation who recently received a Presidential Citation for her service to ADEA. 

Last year, Lantz received the ADEA’s William Gies Foundation Education Fellowship.  For three months she worked with staff in the ADEA Center for Educational Policy and Research on projects that addressed important issues in dental education.

Dr. Berna Saglik, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences and Prosthodontics, received the ADEA/ADEA Council of Students, Residents and Fellows/Colgate-Palmolive Co. Junior Faculty Award. 

The award recognizes outstanding junior faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, and service and a commitment to dental education.  A junior faculty member is someone who has held a full-time predoctoral or postdoctoral faculty appointment at an ADEA member institution for no more than five years and has had a maximum of five years of experience in academia.

Dr. Marita Inglehart, associate professor in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, will become new associate editor of ADEA’s Journal of Dental Education beginning April 1.  During her three-year term, she will review as many as 500 articles submitted for publication each year.  Based on recommendations from a team of reviewers she will select articles for both the print and online journal. 

First published in 1936, JDE is recognized as one of the premier publications for academic dentistry in the U.S.  “I hope this will inspire more educational research here at the School of Dentistry,” she said.  Inglehart has been the senior author of 20 articles that have appeared in JDE since 1997.  She is on the editorial board of two other journals, reviews articles for 15 journals, has edited two books, and has published over 75 articles and also published two books.

Victoria Lucas-Perry, a fourth-year dental student, was one of 12 dental students nationwide to receive the Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Preventive Dentistry Scholarship for her leadership and community service.  Emphasizing the importance of preventive dentistry to patients was the focus of several community health fairs she organized, Lucas-Perry said that focus continued when she and other members of the U-M chapter of the Student National Dental Association provided oral health care and education to residents in underserved communities in Jamaica. 

As a member of the School’s Scholars Program in Dental Leadership program, Lucas-Perry also noted her creation of The Dental Initiative.  The program, created for predental students, provides them with basic dental information, emphasizing the importance of oral health.  This knowledge is then applied in patient interactions when the students are at community dental clinics across Michigan.

Pamela Zarkowski (BSDH 1975) received the Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to education, research, and ADEA.  In addition to her dental hygiene degree, Zarkowski, earned an MPH in dental public health and a teaching certificate in community dentistry from the University of Michigan.  She also holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Wayne State University School of Law. 

Currently vice president of Academic Affairs for the University of Detroit Mercy, Zarkowski will speak at the U-M School of Dentistry’s commencement ceremonies at Hill Auditorium on Friday, May 6.