The Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine (SDM) has named Dr. Duane Douglas its associate dean for faculty. He will be the administrative officer responsible for overall management and leadership of the school’s faculty.
Reporting directly to dean Bruce Rotter, DMD, the associate dean also acts as a liaison between the dean and the faculty at large while functioning as the school’s director of research as well.
“We felt that there was a need to have an administrator that would be specifically dedicated to the needs of our faculty. An opportunity presented itself to reorganize the administration, and this position was created,” said Rotter.
“Dr. Douglas rose to fill the position on an interim basis and, ultimately, on a permanent basis. Dr. Douglas’ dedication to the school and to our faculty make him the right choice for this position,” Rotter said.
Douglas has served as the interim associate dean for faculty since July 2019. Previously, he served as the chair for the Department of Restorative Dentistry and the section head for fixed prosthodontics. He joined the SDM faculty in 1999.
Douglas said the position serves as a line of two-way communication between the SDM administration and its faculty.
“Philosophically, my goal is facilitating the flow of communication between our administration and the faculty giving them a seat at the table,” Douglas said.
“From a practical perspective, my goal is to work with each faculty to facilitate their development in teaching and scholarly activity,” he said.
“I want every member of the SDM to reach their full potential whether that be acclimating junior faculty and helping them navigating the tenure process or guiding department chairs in developing procedures and standardizing their policies toward unification among our many departments,” said Douglas.
The selection resulted from an internal search as the search committee believed an intimate knowledge of SDM’s faculty would be essential in establishing effectiveness in the role. During his time in the interim role, Douglas met with each member of the faculty individually.
“Although I was a department chair prior to assuming the new position and felt I knew my faculty well, I learned so much more about the support they desired from the administration,” he said.
“I developed an online one-stop faculty handbook for the faculty at large, an interactive guide to development of a tenure dossier for our junior faculty, and an online research handbooks,” he said.
Douglas also focused on faculty calibration during his interim period.
“The field of dentistry is highly dynamic, and we invest significant energy to keep our faculty members abreast of the latest technologies, as well as calibrating our faculty, whether full-time or part-time, towards standardizing treatment, procedures, and grading,” he said.
Douglas earned a DMD in 1989 from the University of Manitoba, a certificate in pediatric dentistry in 1992 from the University of Connecticut, and a certificate in prosthodontics in 1994, and a master’s in science in 1995 from the University of Buffalo. He was board certified in prosthodontics in 2002.
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