Jane Halaris, Dental Hygiene adjunct clinical lecturer, to receive graduate student research award

Halaris will receive the Joan K. Wilder Graduate Studies Research Award from the University of Detroit Mercy during its annual honors convocation March 24.  Presented annually, the award recognizes graduate student research that demonstrates scholarship and insight into challenges facing college and university educators.

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Emily Springfield, BA, MSEd, selected as a recipient of the 2012 Olav Alvares Award

The Olav Alvares Award for Best Article Published in the Journal of Dental Education by a Junior Scholar was established to encourage junior scholars to conduct and publish outstanding research in dental education.  The article, Using Multiple Methods to Assess Learning and Outcomes in an Online Degree-Granting Dental Hygiene Program, with co-authors Anne Gwozdek, Melissa Peet and Wendy Kerschbaum, focused on the programmatic evaluation and outcomes assessment of the Dental Hygiene E-Learning Program.  The Alvares Awards will be presented in March 2013 during the ADEA Annual Session in Seattle, Washington.

Anne Gwozdek, RDH, MA, named 2013 Philips Sonicare/RDH Mentor of the Year

Anne Gwozdek was selected out of a pool of mentors in dental hygiene by a panel of judges coordinated by Philips Oral Healthcare and RDH magazine. The two companies have collaborated on honoring mentoring in the dental hygiene profession every year since 2004.

“Philips is very proud to announce the 2013 winner, Anne Gwozdek. Anne is a clinician, educator, researcher, published author and leader. Let’s celebrate excellence in dental hygiene by recognizing the accomplishments of this exceptional individual — congratulations Anne!” said Gail Stoops, RDH, the senior manager of professional relations at Philips Oral Healthcare.

Gwozdek will be featured in the April 2013 issue of RDH magazine, and will be toasted for her mentoring achievements during an award ceremony at the American Dental Hygienists’ Association’s annual session next June in Boston.

Dental Hygiene Students Say Farwell
to Wendy Kerschbaum

Professor Kerschbaum recognized for her many contributions as long time director of the Dental Hygiene program at a special luncheon.

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Congratulations to Dr. Bjorn Steffensen -  2012 AADR Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award

Dr. Bjorn Steffensen, an 1986 alumni of the School of Dentistry Graduate Periodontics program, received the newly renamed Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award at the recent American Association of Dental Research Annual Meeting & Exhibition held in Tampa, Florida, March 21, 2012.  This is the highest award given annually to faculty and student mentoring by the AADR.

Steffensen has served as the associate dean for research at the University of Texas HealthScience Center at San Antonio as well as the director of the Comprehensive Institutional Research Training Program in Craniofacial Oral Biology since 2005.  He has mentored six faculty, seven postdoctoral fellows, 10 Ph.D. and M.S. degree students, and 14 dental, college and high school students. This mentorship has led to 17 peer-reviewed publications and 44 abstracts for presentation at national and local research meetings. Complementing his hands-on approach to mentoring, Dr. Steffensen has been a key figure in research training at UTHSC. Since 2002, he coordinated the dental student research program and organized a summer research seminar series for the trainees. Under his direction, 125 dental students have had research experiences; and most of the students have presented their research findings.
 
This award was established to provide national recognition for outstanding efforts to foster and promote research training and career development of students, trainees and junior faculty. It is intended to identify individuals at all levels of their career with an exemplary record of mentoring. As the inaugural award recipient, Dr. Irwin D. Mandel (1922-2011) embodied the qualities AADR seeks to honor. Mandel began his career as a research assistant in 1946, and gave up his part-time private practice in 1968 to devote himself full-time to research and teaching. He founded the Division of Preventive Dentistry at the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, at Columbia University. He also founded and directed the Center for Clinical Research in Dentistry and served as the Dental School's associate dean for research before attaining emeritus status in 1992. Dr. Mandel served as the 9th president of the AADR. Today the award has been renamed as a tribute to his contributions to AADR, dental research and mentorship.