July 31st is the deadline for the 2013 ADA student ethics video contest!

We know there are a lot of creative and talented students who can win this years contest! 

CEBJA has sponsored the event annually since 2010 to draw student attention to the ethical dilemmas that dental students and professional dentists may encounter and to provide an exercise focusing on appropriate responses based on ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct, available at: ADA.org/ethicsconduct.

Videos should be no more than 4.5 minutes and must portray the application of one or more principle, code or advisory opinion contained in the ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct.

• The 2013 first place winner will receive: $2000
• An honorable mention video will be awarded $1000

For more information, contest rules and entry forms contact Earl Sewell at sewelle@ada.org.

The 2012 winner, "The Unprofessional 2" and the honorable mention video "The Spirit of Dentistry" can be viewed on ADA.org/4064.aspx.

Check it out! 

Are you interested in creating a positive social change through healthcare?

Do you have Spanish-speaking experience?

Do you want to combine these interests with an opportunity to have hands-on experience improving health in an international setting?

Come and join us for an information session about an opportunity to take a week-long medical brigade to Honduras in 2014 with Global Medical Brigades! (http://www.globalbrigades.org/medical-brigades-overview-honduras)

Global Medical Brigades brings volunteers to under-resourced countries to create sustainable healthcare where there is limited access.

We are looking for students from all AHC schools! Spanish-speaking ability is helpful but is NOT required to participate.

The information session will be held on Friday, May 10th at 12:15PM (Weaver-Densford Hall 7-193 Twin Cities and LSci 160 in Duluth). Come and learn more about this exciting opportunity!!

Contact Lindsay Kubina (kubin002@umn.edu) or Joy Hwang (hwan0154@umn.edu) with any questions! We look forward to seeing you on the 10th!

Dear First-Year Dental Student,

Hello from the School of Dentistry’s Office of Admissions and Diversity! I hope you are enjoying spring term and that your first year experiences have been rewarding so far.

I am emailing to encourage you to sign-up to be a mentor to a new student. Our office recognizes the valuable role mentors play in helping new students make a smooth transition into dental school as well as achieving academic and personal success during their four years in the DDS program. Many current students have commented that their mentors have been and continue to be a great help in orienting them to life both inside and outside of dental school. So, please give of your time to help someone else get off to a great start in our DDS program. Sign up to be a mentor!

As a mentor, we ask that you commit to communicating with your mentee prior to orientation, which starts Monday, August 5, 2013, as well as immediately after the start of school. Beyond this, you and your mentee are encouraged to connect at least one time each semester for the duration of your time as a dental student.

Attached is the Mentee Request Form that I ask you to complete and return to 15-163 Moos Tower no later than Wednesday, May 8, 2013. You may also email this to ddsapply@umn.edu. You will hear back about your match in late May.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 612-626-5533, madde084@umn.edu or stop by my office in 15-163 Moos Tower.

Thanks for giving this some thought. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,
Katie Madden
Office of Admissions and Diversity

Check out the latest news from HDA including:

"Community water fluoridation is one of the most effective choices communities can make to prevent health problems while actually improving the oral health of their citizens," declared U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin

Hispanic Dental Association Foundation scholarship opportunities now open!

Dental IT is working with Central Records to prepare for paperless charting, which will begin to roll out soon. This week, all paper charts for Comprehensive Care appointments will have a scan request form attached to them. To ensure that Dental IT and Central Records scan the information you’ll need to continue your patients’ treatments, please be sure to fill out the form to indicate which information you used in the chart.

Dental IT will keep you informed of additional changes and updates via email as we prepare for paperless charting. Additionally, a new Twitter feed, UMNDentalIT, has been set up to inform students of these updates – please follow us!

Jaime Wascalus
IT Director, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry
16-205 Moos Health Science Tower
515 Delaware Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-625-8034

This summer, Futures Without Violence is launching the first year of a new Campus Leadership Program. Six graduate-level students from across the country will be chosen as Futures Without Violence Campus Leaders to improve their college’s awareness and response to violence against women. Campus Leaders will benefit from the guidance of Futures staff and collaboration with the campus leaders from across the country, in addition to access to Futures’ resources and materials, regular knowledge-sharing amongst peers and participation in a robust learning community of campus activists. 

• A small stipend will be provided, along with an expense-paid 2-day training in San Francisco July 18-19.
• The program duration is one academic year, beginning Fall 2013.
• Five hours of work per week are required; hours may be increased to support class credit/internship requirements.

This program is open to medical, nursing, public health, social work, psychology, health care administration or other health care related graduate students and PhD candidates (includes law, media, policy, or business students with a health care focus). For more information please see the attached flyer and application.

The application deadline is May 15, 2013.

Lisa Sohn
Futures Without Violence
Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships

www.StartStrongTeens.org

www.StartStrongParents.org

100 Montgomery St., The Presidio
San Francisco, CA 94129
phone: 415.678.5500
fax: 415.529.2930
www.FuturesWithoutViolence.org 

Fall 2013

Immigrant Health Issues
PA 5451
An on-line course for graduate students interested in Public Policy, Public Health, Social Work, Education,
Nursing and related fields. Please see flyer for more information.

Take a break from your day!

Refresh and recharge with an informal hour of meditation and light stretching. No prior experience or special clothes necessary - just drop in! Students, Staff, and Faculty are welcome FREE!

• Tuesdays 12:00-1:00 pm
• Mayo Meditation Space, 3rd floor

At the request of various student groups and dental schools, ADEA is hosting a live webinar presentation on Wednesday, May 8th on the ADEA PASS application. All students are invited to register for this one hour presentation and Q&A session on the application process. Information on the Search Engine, ADEA PASS, Match, the PPI, and all other aspects of the application will be discussed.

ADEA PASS Overview

Join us for a Webinar on May 8

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now!

All dental students planning on applying to post-doctoral residency programs this year should attend this one-time, live overview of the ADEA PASS application. The presentation will cover the application process, how to find residency programs, the relationship between ADEA PASS and Match, and other aspects of the application.

Title: ADEA PASS Overview

Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Central

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer

Mobile attendees
Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet

Emily Rhineberger
Senior Director of Application Services
American Dental Education Association
1400 K Street NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005
Voice 202-289-7201
Fax 202-238.3979
rhinebergere@adea.org
www.adea.org

Full time paid summer internship opportunities for 8 weeks with Align Technology.   Positions are located in San Jose, CA. To apply for an R&D internship at Align Technology, Inc. please submit a cover letter detailing your interest, include any relevant research experience, and a resume with a current GPA. Resumes and cover letters should be sent electronically to clinicalresearch@aligntech.com.

See job posting for further details.

Congratulations to our MN ASDA group who won the ideal chapter award at the Annual Session this past week in Atlanta and to Kirby Johnson who won one of the district delegate of the year awards. Congratulations!!

Delta Sigma Delta had their Annual Regional Meeting this weekend here in Minneapolis. Students from the University of Iowa and University of Colorado attended. The Saturday meeting included a research poster competition, of which our own Stephanie Zastrow (D2) won! Other activities included a presentation by Dr. Rhodus on Oral Cancer, chapter updates, and a tour of the school of dentistry.

Happy New Year! I want to wish you the best on your boards, be it the Canadian Board or the CRDTS!!!

If I have not met you, I am your University-Sponsored Disability Insurance Plan Guardian Representative, and I wanted to let you know Guardian has very recently made some terrific additions to the policy available to dental graduates.

I will be holding seminars at the University Hotel in March (more details to follow in the near future) to educate you and your classmates about your University-Sponsored Disability Insurance Plan Benefits and the options that are available to you upon graduation. These seminars are for your benefit and lunch will be provided. If you do not want to wait until March, please feel free to contact me and I would be happy to find a convenient time to meet prior to the seminars.

More great news...Guardian is now allowing 4th year dental students who ARE NOT entering a residency at the completion of graduation to apply for disability insurance with First Year Dental Limits 6 months prior to graduation. If you are a 4th year dental student and plan to enter a residency after graduation, you can apply for Resident Limits 3 months prior to graduation. This is a significant change, as applications in the past had to be submitted within 2 months of graduation...Many of you now will qualify to submit applications and do not have to wait!!!

For more information, your University-Sponsored Disability Insurance Plan Guardian Representative can be contacted at:

Dustin Peltier
612-746-2348
dustin_peltier@fosterklima.com

Thank you! I look forward to being in contact soon.

Happy New Year! I want to wish you the best on your boards, be it the Canadian Board or the CRDTS!!!

In the past, dental graduates going into the military were not eligible to secure personal own occupation disability insurance. However, as part of your University-sponsored Disability Insurance Plan, with the Guardian Life Insurance Company, is the opportunity for dental graduates to convert their student group policies into personal disability policies. Your group coverage will end May 31st and the deadline to convert to an individual policy is JUNE 30th. Key Features Include:

• Specialty own occupation definition of disability
• A monthly disability benefit of $2,000 per month until age 65, even if you are un-insurable
• Recovery benefit payable to age 65
• You can suspend the policy and not pay premiums while you're in the military
• When you separate from the military, you can re-activate your policy and the premium will be locked into your original age (saving you a lot of money over your career)

In addition, you may secure simplified issue LIFE INSURANCE, up to $250,000, if you don't have specific orders which would send you to an area of conflict. If you receive orders to go into a conflict area after the policy is issued, the policy will still be in force.

For more information, your University-Sponsored Disability Insurance Plan Guardian Representative can be contacted at:

Dustin Peltier
612-746-2348
dustin_peltier@fosterklima.com

Thank you! I look forward to being in contact soon.

An updated version of the SOD Student Handbook has been placed online:

http://dentistry.umn.edu/prod/groups/sod/@pub/@sod/documents/content/sod_content_423768.pdf

The changes from the previous version are:

1. An updated University Student Conduct Code as amended by the University. This new code goes into effect on January 1, 2013.

2. An update in appeal procedures for the SOD Code of Conduct, per changes in University procedures.

Dental School Countdown
As a fourth-year dental student, I spent my last winter break at home in Oregon. I was thankful to get out of the chilly temperatures of Minneapolis and back to Portland for some home-cooking and catching up with friends. The break was a time for me to catch my breath amidst interviewing for GPRs and AEGDs, trying to complete competencies at dental school, and gearing up to find patients for my board exam this March. I’m sure the dentists out there really miss these days!

This past Sunday, I flew back to Minneapolis to begin my LAST semester of dental school! It’s gone so fast!...

Last year, Dr. Thierer coordinated with faculty, staff and administrators to adjust the clinic schedule to allow students to take 2 weeks of vacation in addition to your 14 personal sessions (7 days - that you may use throughout the year) and regular breaks. This will allow you more flexibility to schedule your plans and allow the clinics to remain open.

Class of 2014:

Here is your Student Vacation Request Form 2013/2014. A few things to note when making your plans:

1. Clinics will be closed August 26th through August 30th, 2013. Everyone will have that week off.
2. You will have two additional weeks of vacation beginning on 07/08/13 and graduation in May of 2014. You must take these days in one week blocks (Monday-Friday).
3. You will want to make note of the conditions under which vacations will be approved and submission dates for this form.

Class of 2015:

Here is your Student Vacation Request Form 2013. A few things to note when making your plans:

1. Clinics will be closed August 26th through August 30th, 2013. Everyone will have that week off.
2. You must take your 2 weeks of vacation between July 29th and August 23rd.

DT Class of 2013

Here is your Student Vacation Request Form 2013. A few things to consider when making your plans:

1. The request form is due to Kathy Hughes (room 8-440) on February 1, 2013 for summer vacation requests.
2. Clinics will be closed August 26th through August 30th, 2013. Everyone will have that week off.
3. You will have two additional weeks of vacation beginning on 05/20/13 – 08/24/13. You must take these days in one week blocks (Monday-Friday).
4. You will want to make note of the conditions under which vacations will be approved and submission dates for this form.

Although it may seem far away, it’s time to start thinking about graduation.

One thing you should start doing now and stay on top of until graduation is your personal day balance. Please check your personal days in axium to make sure you have not and will not have a negative balance. You will not receive your diploma at graduation if you have used more personal days than you’ve accrued.

If you need to make-up days, watch for messages from clinical systems about opportunities to volunteer in clinic over breaks. You may also be able to make-up days during senior check-out week (i.e., the four days prior to graduation).

See Kathy Hughes if you have questions about your personal days balance in axium or need to volunteer in clinic during check-out week.

See Sara Johnson with any other concerns.
 

Earlier this month, 12 Minnesota students had the opportunity to attend ASDA's National Leadership Conference in Chicago. Check out the newsletter the attendees put together as a recap of the weekend!

Check out the scholarship page for the links to watch all 6 videos

For those of you in clinic, you're now using myDentApps, for any absence requests.  Get to it here or through the intranet.

MyDentApps is a new web application developed for student dental providers and staff at the School of Dentistry and updated based on feedback from the pilot D.D.S. student group. The app was created to help streamline some of the processes that providers and staff complete on a daily basis. The first release of the app has two main areas of functionality:

Viewing Schedules

• The Schedules section displays a student’s full schedule in calendar and list form, including appointment information, blocks, and personal time. The list view of the schedule has been formatted to be easily readable on a mobile device, thus eliminating the need to log in remotely to axiUm to view your schedule. Both the calendar and list views are available from your computer, but only the list view will appear on your mobile device.
• Additionally, the Personals & Labs section in the list view shows the number of personal days, labs, and vacation session that a student has taken

Planned Absence Requests

• This section allows D.D.S., Hygiene, and Therapy students in clinic to submit planned absence requests online, eliminating paper requests. Requests may be submitted from a workstation or from a mobile device.

Logging in to myDentApps:

Open a web browser on your mobile device or from any workstation
Enter or copy and paste http://myDentApps.umn.edu in the address bar
Click the log in link
Enter your x.500 ID and password to log in to the secure intranet site. MyDentApps will open and your schedule page will be displayed

Thank you to the green D.D.S. student group for piloting the application and to all who participated in the survey and provided feedback. We encourage feedback and questions, which are extremely valuable in evolving the most user-friendly and useful application. Please send any questions or feedback about MyDentApps to axiumsod@umn.edu.

University Counseling & Consulting Services

Groups For Everyone

Assertive Communication Workshop: Learn to initiate conversations and to ask for what you need without feeling guilty. Improve your appropriate expression of thoughts and feelings. Structured exercises teach skills for communicating directly, while respecting the rights of both self and others.

Understanding Self and Others: Are you wanting to develop better relationship skills? This group provides an opportunity for individuals to learn from each other, while giving and receiving support around the many personal issues that university students confront. Participants will help each other develop greater self-awareness and increased ability to develop satisfying relationships. Relationships, self-confidence, balancing demands, and more–this group will address the issues of greatest concern to its particular members.

Grief Support Group for Students Who Have Lost Parents or Siblings: An opportunity for students who have lost a parent or sibling to share their stories, while giving and receiving support around the many personal issues faced during the grieving process. Participants will be able to discuss their loss in a safe and supportive setting with others who have been through similar experiences.

International Circle: This group provides a place for international students to meet other international students who have similar concerns. It also provides an opportunity to learn from one another about adjusting to a new culture and educational system, dealing with different customs, and practice speaking English.

Feel Better Fast: Do you need more stress management skills? Are you feeling overwhelmed or stressed by the demands of the semester? Do you want to learn fast and effective ways to manage stress and practice general self-care? If so, this is the workshop for you! Learn ways to FEEL BETTER FAST. Workshops will teach you techniques on stress management, relaxation, mindfulness, and general self-care. To sign up, call 612-625-7428 or email Heather Johnson at joh07032@umn.edu.

Survivors' Group: The Aurora Center provides a safe and confidential space for students who are survivors of sexual assault. The purpose of the group is to offer information, options, support, relaxation, stress reduction exercises, and to learn how trauma impacts the day-to-day struggles for students. The group serves as a welcoming and nurturing environment for each member to learn and grow from each others on-going work towards recovery.

For descriptions of these groups, consult our website at http://www.uccs.umn.edu/group_current.htm.
If interested, please call 612-624-3323 to arrange a pre-group meeting with co-facilitators.

Other Group Opportunities on Campus (contact the appropriate office for information):
Disabilities Services: Students with Psychological Disabilities.
Boynton MHC- contact office or see website for more information
GLBTA Programs Office: A support group for transgender and gender non-conforming students.
ISSS confidential group for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered or questioning, International Students and Scholars.

Worried about your English speaking/writing skills?

Lonely? Unsure of how to make friends?
Eager to know how to succeed in your classes?
Interested in learning job/internship search strategies?
Confused about the American culture?
Homesick? Feeling alone or misunderstood?

This weekly group provides a place for both undergraduate and graduate international students to meet other international students who have concerns described above. It also provides an opportunity to learn from one another about adjusting to a new culture and educational system, dealing with different customs, and practice speaking English.

For more information, please contact:
Chia-Chen Tu, Ph. D. (tuxx0027@umn.edu)
Kara Goldmann, M.A. (kgoldman@umn.edu)
Phone: 612-624-3323

Learn more about Continuing Dental Education. For a list of 2012-13 CDE Courses. Register here.

Check out the accreditation access link on the intranet!

Check out the Student Council meeting minutes.

Be safe around campus. Free 24-hour Campus Walk Program 612-624-WALK (9255).