Message from the Alumni Association President

Welcome all alumni! We have all shared four years in the crucible of dental education and debt. When carbon is subjected to heat and pressure, one may create charcoal or diamonds.

For almost forty years, I believe our dental school has been turning out diamonds – diamonds to be cut and polished by our personal and professional lives’ experiences so we can sparkle and shine wherever we practice.

Our Alumni Association is our “Tiffany”. It gives us all a chance to come together into an ever-growing unique piece of jewelry. Doing this allows us to stay in contact with our peers, share experiences, and give back to the school that launched our careers. In this time of dismal cutbacks, the “jeweler” needs our support.

We can attend CE courses here, especially our “Hollers” and “South Padre” conferences. We can participate in our spore testing program. We can become board members in our association. We can support a variety of scholarships. Finally, those receiving scholarships or grants can recycle those funds when one becomes financially able.

Our association can be as great or small as we want it – it’s ours! I hope you’ll all be a part by becoming life members. In the near future, I hope you will support a soon to be created “program fund” that will benefit all students. We want to be able to rent our seniors’ graduation gowns, or buy a new TV for the student lounge. We plan to support other student activities as well as continuing our freshman scrub program and our hosting the senior awards breakfast.

Check back on this website for information about anything involving your association, especially the creation of the innovative “class challenge program fund” mentioned earlier. This fund could become a positive, lasting gift from each one of us.

I hope you alumni will come together to make our Alumni Association something very special that extends the spirit and legacy of our school far beyond its bricks and mortar.

Sincerely,

Michael L. Boland, DDS
Class of ’74