Greetings from Yakima! We hope you are having a wonderful summer. The weather here in Yakima is finally warming up, with lots of sunshine and the occasional winds in the late afternoon and early evening. The campus has been quieter since the University’s commencement in May, but soon enough, students will be back in mid-August for orientation and the start of classes. And, one year from mid-August, we will welcome our inaugural class – more on this further along in my column.
The team submitted our response to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) site visit report at the end of May. Details of the site visit and outcome can be found in our previous newsletter. Our response now proceeds through a review process at CODA. We expect to hear approval of our initial accreditation sometime in early August.
I am excited to report that the hiring of faculty and staff for our program has exceeded expectations. We have filled almost all our positions on the main campus and at our three clinical sites. We are rolling out an incremental hiring plan, bringing on faculty as we grow the total number of students to our full capacity for the 2028-2029 academic year. We have hired the needed faculty to support our program through the 2026-2027 academic year, with a couple of hires already for the 2027-2028 academic year. We are also growing our school’s staff, with new team members joining us on the main campus – see the New SDM Team Members section for details. We will announce the new faculty and staff as they officially start.
The construction of Delta Dental Equity Hall (DDEH) is in its final stages of completion. The construction team will turn over the building to the University in July and begin installing furniture in the common areas. A-dec will install the simulation lab equipment on campus in early August. We will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 28 to officially dedicate DDEH.
We will be kicking off our admissions process in mid-August. Our admissions committee has already had several meetings to work out the process of evaluating applicants and developing the in-person interview schedule. Based on the level of interest in our program thus far, we expect a large number of applicants, especially from potential students from Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
Finally, I wanted to share a recent op-ed from the Seattle Times, published in response to an editorial about the affordability of dental care in the State of Washington. Authored by Dr. Linda Edgar, American Dental Association president, and Dr. Nathan Russell, Washington State Dental Association president, they highlight our state’s many actions and programs designed to address increasing access to care for residents. They recognize our program, which focuses on placing “dental students in three federally qualified health centers in Kennewick, Tacoma, and Yakima to care for underserved populations”. They also recognize the efforts of our sister school, the University of Washington School of Dentistry’s RIDE program, which has students complete clinical training in rural clinics, with most graduates practicing in underserved areas following graduation.
Efforts like these and the other programs shared in the piece will help improve access and reduce oral healthcare inequities. It is all about partnership and working together. We thank the ADA and WSDA for their support of our new school.
Please have a great summer, and I look forward to seeing many of you at our September 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony!