Lasting Impressions | Fall 2016

16 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS Faculty Impressions She believes mentoring women in the profession is vital to encouragement and transformation. “In the past, dentistry has been a male-oriented, male- dominated profession. It’s just within the last 20 years that more and more women have been accepted into dental schools; now, it’s 50 percent male and 50 percent female,” she said. “When I was in dental school, there were 13 women out of a class of 130. Today, women are starting to look at higher leadership positions, because they know they can manage a family, be a dentist, and be a leader in dentistry as well.” Siegel acknowledges, however, that women in the profession do encounter roadblocks. Her advice? Be persistent. “I’ve encouraged women not to take no for an answer. e second answer may not be no,” she said. Although Siegel was a tenured associate professor during her last three years at the University of Maryland, she decided to come to NSU when her husband was o ered his department chair position. Siegel was hired as a faculty member by former dean Robert Uchin, D.D.S., with the understanding that she would help establish a separate Department of Prosthodontics—and that she wanted to become a department chair. Although she was willing to wait for ve years to realize her goal, it happened much quicker. “I came in January 2003, the department started in July, and I became chair in October,” she said. “I like building things.” Linda C. Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., the college’s current dean, lauds the work Siegel has done as an architect of the Department of Prosthodontics. “I have found Dr. Siegel to be an outstanding academic scholar and adminis- trator who exhibits NSU’s Core Values of academic excel- lence and student centeredness in all her activities,” Niessen said. “She works diligently to recruit, hire, and retain outstanding faculty members, and ensures that the prosthodontic curriculum remains current with the state of the science. She is increasing the research and scholarly activities accomplished by her faculty members and department. In addition, she has incorporated CAD/CAM into the prosthodontic curriculum and is working to ex- pand the digital work ow in clinical dentistry to remain on the cutting edge of dental sciences.”