Spring 2013 - Tufts University School of Dental Medicine

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A world war was raging, money was scarce and her family was an ocean away—still Erna Neumann was determined to finish dental school By Julie Flaherty
Tufts Dental School Class of 1918 at Commencement. in the spring of1918, erna neumann was in her final semester at tufts College Dental School, and she was anxious. The 23-year-old feared that all the effort and money she had put into her education was about to come to nothing. The antipathy toward German students like herself had grown as World War I progressed. Her accent was a liability; playing German music was asking for trouble. Some of her classmates suspected she might even be a spy. “We thought she had bombs in her trunk,” one admitted later. Then, just a few months from finishing her dental studies, she learned that two nursing students she knew had been told to leave their school because they were German. So Neumann gathered her moxie and made an appointment to see Hermon Carey Bumpus, the president of Tufts University. She told him that she was a good student, and that the war had nothing to do with her. “I have just my last semester,” she told him. “I have no money. I am only full of debt. Are you going to throw me out, too” No, he said, he would not. And a few weeks later, at an annual dinner for the dental class, he sought her out. She had had to borrow money for her white tulle dress; the blue and white flowers she wore were a gift from the family she was staying with. As the many men in her class angled to get Dr. Bumpus’ attention, the president came forward and spoke to her. “How is everything” he asked. “Are you all right” Neumann recalled the moment with pride and wonder. “This poor student, no place to go, no money in the bank, and the president picked me out,” she said. “And I had a beautiful dress and three orchids.” She would soon be one of the five women to graduate with the class of 1918 and go on to become one of the first women dentists in Vermont. Neumann’s story was unearthed recently in the form of a typed, six-page manuscript, written by her in 1976 and found in the drawer of a Tufts administrator who was changing offices. But there was more. In the attic of the Burlington, Vt., home where Neumann lived most of her life were letters, yearbooks, reunion photos and audiotapes that fleshed out her story, one of an adventuresome woman who had a deep affection for her alma mater. She provides evocative details of what it was like to be not just a dental student a century ago, but one of a handful of women amid hundreds of male students and an “enemy alien” in a foreign land. spring 2013 tufts dental medicine 25
Page 1 and 2: MAGAZINE OF THE TuFTs uNIvErsITy dE
Page 3 and 4: contents SprINg 2013 voLuMe 17 No.
Page 5 and 6: from the dean No Simple Issue greet
Page 7 and 8: where patients thought to have slee
Page 9 and 10: the A smattering of dentistry tidbi
Page 11: “WHAT’SREALLYSPECIALABOUTTHEEPI
Page 14 and 15: Tufts Dental Medicine: So your firs
Page 17 and 18: Buoyed by economic and social chang
Page 19: actively engaged professionals, the
Page 22 and 23: ike many of the country’s rural r
Page 24 and 25: a specialist, they can come back he
Page 28 and 29: Left, the exterior of Tufts College
Page 30 and 31: Below, Erna and Alfred Heininger in
Page 32 and 33: Thanh-Trang Nguyen, D01, with her m
Page 34 and 35: painless. That was the first time I
Page 36 and 37: on campus knew he was good at scien
Page 38 and 39: on campus Revolution Afoot 21st-cen
Page 40 and 41: on campus onekneeland In case you h
Page 42 and 43: on campus 1 2 The Most Valuable Too
Page 44 and 45: on campus vaLUabLe, continued from
Page 46 and 47: advancement giving. growth. gratitu
Page 48 and 49: alumni news staying connected Chang
Page 50 and 51: alumni news Above: Derek Wolkowicz,
Page 52 and 53: alumni news out&about Golden Gate G
Page 54 and 55: alumni news class notes Stephen M.
Page 56 and 57: alumni news have three children, Ga
Page 58 and 59: Courses fill quiCkly! register earl
Page 60 and 61: SPORTS FOR SCHOLARSHIP OPEN Join th
Page 62: School of Dental Medicine 136 Harri

Spring 2013 - Tufts University School of Dental Medicine

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