NSU Newsroom
SharkBytes
Horizons
This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Dental School Creates Endowed Professorship in Endodontics
The College of Dental Medicine receive $100,000 from the American Association of Endodontists Foundation for an endowed professorship in endodontics.
The College of Dental Medicine (CDM) recently created an endowed professorship in endodontics. The college – led by the efforts of Kenneth Namerow, D.D.S., CDM associate professor, division chief of surgical sciences, and section chair of endodontics – raised $400,000 for the professorship. CDM reached the magical number of $500,000 needed for the professorship with a $100,000 donation from the American Association of Endodontists Foundation. The endowed professorship aims to attract and retain high-quality, early-career teaching faculty in the field of endodontics.
Eddy Skidmore, D.D.S., president of the American Association of Endodontists Foundation; Seymour Oliet, D.D.S., NSU College of Dental Medicine dean emeritus; Robert Uchin, D.D.S., CDM dean; Kenneth Namerow, D.D.S., CDM associate professor, division chief surgical sciences, and section chair of endodontics; and Oscar Bolanos, D.D.S., CDM postgraduate director of endodontics.
Like many educational programs and the endodontics profession itself, the challenge is to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty dedicated to an academic career who can maintain the strength of CDM’s program. As reported by the Journal of Endodontics (JOE), the profession is faced with the dual challenge of many faculty and practitioners preparing to retire and fewer new professionals financially able to pursue a career in higher education. According to JOE, dental faculty leave teaching for private practice, mostly due to income disparity between academic salaries and earnings in practice. Newly-trained dentists are unlikely to become professors after leaving their training programs as a reflection of loans incurred in training and the need to service the debt. Data from the American Dental Education Association indicates an average educational debt of $169,902 per student in 2007.