School Alumni Associations

IU Pediatric Dentistry Alumni Association

The Indiana University Pediatric Dentistry Alumni Association supports the IU Pediatric Dentistry Department and students in a variety of ways.  They purchase necessary equipment for the School, send students to professional conferences, and honor outstanding students and alumni.  In addition, the IU Pediatric Dentistry Alumni Association:

• Holds a biennial conference

• Publishes two newsletters per year and a directory

• Sponsors four days of activities for alumni during the AAPD annual meeting

• Helped to endow two professorships and working on a third, the Paul E. Starkey Endowed Professorship.

Reprinted from the Spring 1987 Newsletter

ORGANIZING THE ASSOCIATION

By 1971 approximately 80 pediatric dentists had received their training at Indiana University. On several occasions prior to 1971, Pedodontic Department Chairman Ralph McDonald had arranged for a guest speaker to present a program to our postdoctoral students and to our alumni who were invited to return to the school for the occasion. These meetings were loosely referred to as "Biennial Pedodontic Conferences".

While attending one of these get togethers, several of our alumni discussed the idea of officially organizing our graduates of the program into an association. They contacted all alumni members to assess their interest. The idea caught on rapidly and there was considerable enthusiasm for the proposal. As the next "Conference" would be in the spring of 1971, there was a flurry of activity to prepare for organization. A
committee prepared a Constitution and By-Laws, another the scientific program, and another a banquet to be held on the evening of May 27, 1971. The scientific program would be presented all day on the 27th and continue on the morning of the 28th to be followed by a business meeting.

One of the purposes of the banquet would be to honor Ralph McDonald. The Ralph E. McDonald/Pedodontic Fund through Indiana University Foundation was developed and the McDonald Scholarship was announced. At the banquet Ralph's wife, Sarah Jane, was presented with a beautiful ring, and Ralph received the sculpture of the tree and was told of the live tree to be
planted in his yard.

In the minutes of the business meeting, the day after the banquet, is the following item: "Don Bowers (Class of 1964) then moved that the Constitution and By-Laws of the Indiana University Pedodontic Alumni Association be accepted as changed. Art Klein (Class of 1958) seconded the motion. The motion passed thus officially establishing the Association." On the photo page is a picture of the alumni and students who attended the first business meeting in 1971.

See the IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations Calendar of Events for upcoming Pediatric Dentistry alumni programs.

IU School of Dentistry web site

IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations contact:
Karen Deery, (317) 274-8959 or kdeery@iupui.edu