Lasting Impressions | Fall 2016

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 45 “It’s pretty signi cant,” said Brad A. Williams, Ed.D., vice president for Student A airs and dean of NSU’s College of Undergraduate Studies, who coordinated the nal selections in each award category. “ ey won for Student Government of the Year, and there are more than 200 student organizations at NSU.” e CDM SGA consists of 20 members. ere are four class presidents, four class vice presidents, four class secretaries, and four class treasurers, plus an additional four members who are executive o cers. e executive o cers are third- and fourth-year students who represent the entire CDM, while the class o cers represent the needs of their speci c class. Several projects earned recognition for the SGA. e organization funded the purchase of four high-tech DSLR cameras, and the university matched those funds to buy an additional four more, said Alex Verga, D.M.D., who was the SGA president when the organization won the STUEY. e initiative provided the foundation for the creation of a digital photography course so students could learn how to better document their work. e SGA also supported the renovation of the college’s outdated dental Simulation Lab and made administrative changes that helped the CDM’s dental clinic run more e ciently. “ ey really made a di erence,” said Linda C. Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., dean of the CDM. “ ese students are wonderful. When the university recognizes them with a STUEY Award, it’s a huge deal. And we won two. We won the award for the SGA, and the Pediatric Dental Club won the Graduate Student Organization of the Year for the Give Kids A Smile program.” (See story on page 40.) e STUEY Award was tangible acknowledgment that the group’s hard work has made a lasting impact, said Verga, who also received a STUEY as the CDM’s 2016 Student of the Year. “ e STUEY really hit home for us. I know the other groups that have won, and it is very competitive,” said Verga, who graduated in 2016 and has begun an orthodontic residency in Georgia. “It’s an award that says this student government went above and beyond. It represents the impact we made for the college and for the community.” Because of the SGA’s e orts, clinical photography with DSLR cameras optimized for dentistry with macro lenses and ring ashes is now the order of the day. e camera kits cost about $2,000 each, with half of the funding com- ing from the SGA and half from a university-procured donor, said Stanley Hack, B.D.S., assistant professor for the CDM’s Department of Cariology and Restorative Dentistry. e SGA used money from its budget to cover half the cost, and the College of Dental Medicine provided the matching funds. “ e initiative was started by the SGA,” Hack said. “ e students requested the CDM match their purchase of four cameras, making a total of eight. is would pro- vide one camera for each of the eight teams in the CDM predoctoral clinic.” Kyle Aten examines a patient as Jared Gibby uses a high-tech DSLR camera purchased by the SGA. Continued on next page