Provide the highest quality dental medicine education in the nation.
Educate a diverse population of the nation's most talented dental education students.
Hire outstanding faculty with records of achievement in dental research and education.
Support and enhance a distinct four-year curriculum combining a solid knowledge base in medical and dental sciences, student ability to synthesize and apply contemporary information and excellence in patient care and public service.
Enhance student access to the highest quality dental education facilities.
Focus recruitment efforts on students who demonstrate remarkable aptitude for dental medicine.
Retain outstanding faculty who lead in their field of dental science.
Advance the School's practice of systematic review of educational curriculum to ensure delivery of the highest quality and most current educational content and patient services. Expand affiliation with community health centers, establishing sites around the state where students provide care to underserved populations.
Make targeted, strategic investments in dental education facilities and equipment.
Ranked the top dental school in the country for the second time in three years, based on class of 2003 student test scores on the National Board Dental Examinations. The School has repeatedly ranked in the top 4. The tests, recognized nationwide, are an accepted assessment of qualifications to practice dentistry. They confirm the skill of UConn-trained practitioners to recall important basic biomedical and dental sciences information and to apply that information in a patient care context.
Earned 16 commendations and no recommendations for improvement on the School's recent accreditation, underscoring the quality of dental school faculty, curriculum and facilities. Ranked in the top 5 in the nation by the Institute for Scientific Information Essential School Indicators for the ratio of dental publications for the University over a five-year period. Ranked 7th in the nation in the 2002 ADA survey for research funding per faculty member.
Cited in Best Practices in Dental Education in 2002 by the American Dental Education Association for methods used in assessing student performance and progress in the curriculum. Received a five-year, $1.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to enable the School, already the largest single provider of dental care to the state's neediest residents, to triple its services to underserved populations. The dental school clinics are now the primary source of care for the state's Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible populations. Students' off-site commitment in underserved areas will increase from 27 days to 75 days.
Installed 110 new patient chairs and a new electronic clinic management system reflecting the latest advances in dental medicine and science. Earmarked $5 million for future renovation and enhancement of dental school facilities.