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October 21, 2010

Colleagues,

With Dean Lonnie Norris's announcement of his decision to step down next year, we have convened a committee to begin the search for the next dean of the School of Dental Medicine. I am pleased to announce that the following faculty, alumni, administrators, and student have agreed to serve on this critically important body, which I will chair:

• Jamshed Bharucha, Provost and Senior Vice President
• Paul Desjardins, DA75, Chair, Board of Overseers for the School of Dental Medicine
• Jonathan Garlick, Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology; Director, Division of Cancer Biology and Tissue Engineering
• Mark Gonthier, Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs
• Samantha Jordan, A06, D11
• James Kane, D74, DG76, DG78, DG79, D04P, Overseer; Past President, Dental Alumni Association
• Noshir Mehta, D77, DG73, J01P, A07P, Professor and Chair, Department of General Dentistry; Director, Craniofacial Pain Center; and Past President, Dental Alumni Association
• Naomi Rosenberg, Professor and Dean, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
• Maria Tringale, Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations
• Thomas Winkler, A62, D66, D10P, DG12P, Member, Tufts University Board of Trustees and Overseer.

While our colleagues on the search committee will be involved in the entire screening process, we will also be working with Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates, a professional search firm whose representatives will handle routine matters and screen applicants while also actively soliciting candidates of great interest. At my request, they have established a confidential email account to receive applications and nominations: tuftsdental@storbeckpimentel.com. I encourage you to share this address with anyone who might have a nomination or interest in the search process.

In addition, beginning Thursday, October 28th, Anne Coyle of Storbeck/Pimentel will be leading a series of open forums about the search. Because the interests of faculty, staff, and students can be different, we have scheduled separate sessions for each of these groups. We will soon announce some additional meetings for alumni and for full- and part-time faculty who will be unable to attend the first meeting on October 28th.:

• For staff: 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., and again at 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., in Rachel's Amphitheater
• For students: 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., in Merritt Auditorium
• For faculty: 1:15 to 2:30 p.m., in Rachel's Amphitheater

The collective wisdom of the committee, its judgments and its recognition of promise, will ensure that we assemble a pool of first-rate finalists. The recommendations of many more colleagues regarding those finalists will inform the important decision that we ultimately make in identifying the next dean. I?ve seen the process work remarkably well over many years and most recently in the successful appointment of Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. We approach this search with confidence of recent experience and are excited at the prospect of adding excellence to excellence.

Jamshed Bharucha, Provost and Senior Vice President