Thanks to the ongoing support of Dr. Alex Narváez (‘82) and his wife Dr. Norma Zavala (UW Psychology ‘80) as champions of diversity and creating opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the School of Dentistry has established the Sea Mar Community Health Centers-Narváez/Zavala Family Endowed Scholarship in Dentistry.
The endowed fund is being established through a generous gift from Dr. Narváez and Dr. Zavala, with a matching gift from Sea Mar Community Health Centers, where Dr. Narváez has served in a dental leadership role for over 40 years. The scholarship will provide financial assistance to School of Dentistry students who have experienced economic and/or educational disadvantages, with a preference to support students who have a demonstrated commitment to, or interest in, supporting health in low-income or underserved communities.
Dr. Narváez and Dr. Zavala have been stalwarts when it comes to supporting diversity at the School. They helped Sea Mar establish the Sea Mar Community Health Centers Student Diversity Term Scholarship in 2018, which aids students who self-identify as Latino/Latina or who come from underserved backgrounds. In 2022 the two gave a $40,000 gift to establish a Dentistry Opportunity Scholarship to support student diversity and, by extension, increase representation in the dental profession and greater access to quality care for all populations in Washington.
“We strongly support diversity at any school of higher learning and want to provide an opportunity to those students who have very few options for financial aid,” Dr. Narváez said back in 2022 in the Dental Alumni News magazine (pg. 17). “Our efforts align very much with those of Sea Mar in supporting students from underrepresented groups that cannot access the necessary financial aid to complete their education and begin a career.”
Dr. Narváez currently serves on the Dean’s Club Board of Trustees, and Dr. Zavala was the recipient of the 2023 Charles E. Odegaard Award, presented by the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, which is regarded as the highest achievement in diversity at the UW.
“I am enormously grateful to Drs. Narváez and Zavala and to Sea Mar Community Health Centers for this generous and very impactful gift,” said Dean André Ritter. “A significant component of our school’s mission is to advance oral and craniofacial health for all through collaborative education and serving community needs, and the Sea Mar Community Health Centers-Narváez/Zavala Family Endowed Scholarship in Dentistry is completely aligned with that mission as well as with our commitment to access and inclusion.”