The School of Dentistry’s chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU), which is the dental equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa, inducted seven new student members and two faculty members on May 22.
At the Sigma Sigma chapter’s annual dinner at the UW Club, scholarships also were awarded to six students, while another student received OKU’s annual award of excellence.
The student inductees, all from the graduating Class of 2019, were Lauren Blanchard, Elizabeth Floodeen, Anmol Gill, Anoop Gill, Stephen Siew, Kerry Streiff, and Mari-Alina Timoshchuk. Dr. Amy Kim of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, who also holds an appointment in the Department of Periodontics and is associate director of the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program, was inducted as a faculty member. Dr. Richard Presland, graduate program director of the Department of Oral Health Sciences, was inducted as an honorary member.
Robert Rosenthal, a RIDE student in the Class of 2021, received the Dr. William S. Kramer Award of Excellence. The award recognizes a rising third-year student who has demonstrated scholarship, character, and the potential promise for advancement of dentistry and service to humanity.
Dr. Jon Suzuki of Philadelphia’s Temple University, professor of microbiology and immunology in Temple’s School of Medicine and professor of periodontology and oral implantology in its School of Dentistry, presented the keynote speech, relating lessons he had learned over the course of his career.
OKU scholarships went to Kayla Casebier and Nadia Grishin of the Class of 2020, Asher Chiu and Samuel Snipes of the Class of 2021, and Calvin Panah and Fang Sun of the Class of 2022.