Spring 2013 - Tufts University School of Dental Medicine

Why is the school developing a
strategic plan now
Roya Zandparsa: Many things are changing
at our school—we have a new dean and administration;
technology is improving very
fast; we have completed the expansion that
added five floors to our building. There are
new opportunities and challenges, and we
want to be able to move to a higher level of
prominence as a leader in dental education,
not only locally and nationally, but
globally. So we have turned our attention
to strategic planning. We want to
be innovators in developing opportunities
for our students to become outstanding
leaders in oral health.
What has taken place with the
strategic-planning process over the
past year
You always want to establish a baseline,
so we started gathering information
and reviewing existing documents:
the annual surveys of our alumni, the
unit assessments, the senior student
exit survey, patient satisfaction surveys,
the dean’s annual reports. We
were already in the process of revising
the curriculum, so the curriculum
revision committee was in place. We
wanted to make sure we were aligned
with that committee and that there
were no surprises. Then we came up
with issues and priorities as well as several
distinct areas of focus.
What are those priorities
They are: Community and social responsibility.
How can we ensure that the Tufts
Dental community devotes time and effort
to address access-to-care issues Curriculum.
How do we provide a comprehensive
dental education for future generations
People. How do we engage and support
the Tufts Dental community to promote
our mission Research. How can we foster
collaborative, interdisciplinary research
throughout the school and, by extension,
throughout the university
Capitalizing on the benefits of technology
for teaching, learning, research and
patient care was initially a priority, but technology
was later incorporated into the four
other strategic directives and identified as a
key enabler for success in all those areas.
What is the timeline for rolling out the
strategic plan
We want to have short-term, mid-term and
long-terms goals and be able to implement
them little by little. This is a living document—it
will require constant revision. We
will constantly look to it to see how we’re
doing. It’s a process. The name is 2020
Roya Zandparsa
Vision!, but that doesn’t mean we’re going
to wait until 2020 to begin implementing
the recommendations.
We anticipate the overall planning will
be completed this spring, and then we will
craft a document that reflects the consensus
of the Strategic Planning Steering
Committee and make that available to all
stakeholders.
How did you get people involved
Our goal was to engage as many people as
possible. We went through a variety of focus
groups. We put everything online. We had
a poster that was displayed throughout One
Kneeland Street to reach people who do not
have access to the Internet. We tried every
way possible to approach people and try to
get them involved, to engage them and let
them know their opinion really matters. We
wanted to be sure everybody had a chance
to be heard. The focus groups were great–
some people prefer face-to-face communication.
We had two rounds, with eight groups
of eight to 10 people each time of students,
staff and faculty. We met separately with the
Alumni Council to gain the perspective of
alumni who are not necessarily members of
the faculty. And we also had an anonymous
survey for people who were more comfortable
providing input that way.
Who did you talk to beyond
One Kneeland Street
Our consultants, Karl Haden of Academy
for Academic Leadership in Atlanta
and Joshua Mintz of Cavanaugh, Hagan,
Pierson & Mintz in Washington, D.C.,
interviewed leaders in dental and health
care and public health to gain perspective
on what challenges and opportunities
lay ahead for the profession and
dental education. We also interviewed
members of the Chinatown community,
in which our school and clinics are
located, and representatives from the
Tufts Dental Alumni Association.
The university is also involved in a
strategic-planning process. How do
these two initiatives intersect
We talked to Tufts President Anthony
Monaco and Provost David Harris. We
wanted to make sure we were aligned
with their vision, and that our plan and the
university plan were in sync. Dean Huw
Thomas is part of the university strategic
planning group, and he gives us updates on
that process. We want to make sure we're
all on the same page and whatever we do is
under the Tufts umbrella.
How can alumni get involved
Everything is online, and we’re not going
to stop asking for opinions. At any point, if
you decide you want to get involved, send
an email to me (roya.zandparsa@tufts.
edu), Dean Thomas (huw.thomas@tufts.
edu) or Executive Associate Dean Mark
Gonthier (mark.gonthier@tufts.edu). Or
go to our website, http://dental.tufts.edu/
strategicplan.
Helene Ragovin, the editor of this magazine,
can be reached at helene.ragovin@tufts.edu.
photo: kelvin ma
spring 2013 tufts dental medicine 35