College of Dental Medicine Lasting Impressions Magazine

The education and commitment to community involve- ment that students learn at the NSU College of Dental Medicine are career builders. For a select number of students, membership in the Chi Psi chapter of the national dental honor society Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) is also an important part of their future. “OKU induction is one of the highest honors a dental stu- dent can achieve. The benefits of induction into the fraterni- ty include national recognition and acknowledgment of highest achievement in the student’s career,” said Harvey A. Quinton, D.D.S., who serves as secretary/treasurer of the CDM’s Chi Psi chapter and is an assistant professor in the Department of Cariology and Restorative Dentistry. Quinton, who was inducted into OKU in 1992 as a Columbia University faculty member, knows firsthand that the honor continues when students become professionals. “I will never forget being recognized by OKU and being brought into the organization,” he said. Each year, approximately 15 senior dental students earn induction into the Chi Psi chapter. “In working with the students here at NSU over the past 14 years, I get to work with the cream of the crop, and you tend to gravitate toward those students,” Quinton said. “For me, it’s a big honor to find these students. I’ve asked them if I could do their introduction. It’s a good bonding type of situation among the students and the faculty,” he said. Jason Portnof, D.M.D., M.D., FACS, agreed. Inducted in 2002 after he graduated from the CDM, Portnof called it a “mark of distinction” earned through high grades and participation in extracurricular activities. “There’s the benefit of networking,” said Portnof, now director of pediatric craniomaxillofacial surgery at the CDM. “Dr. Quinton and I get to meet the top students in the grad- uating class who are inducted into the fraternity.” Omicron Kappa Upsilon had its inception with the class of 1914 at Northwestern University Dental School in Illinois. “A committee from this class submitted a petition to the faculty that stated it wanted to organize and found a national honorary fraternity,” Quinton said. “The Omicron Kappa Upsilon society was organized to encourage and develop a spirit of emulation among students in dentistry and to recognize, in an appropriate manner, those who shall distinguish themselves by a high degree of scholarship.” Quinton pointed out that the society’s name and key symbolize the ideals for which the dental profession is striving: conservation of teeth and health. Of the 70 chapters that have been chartered, 58 are active. 16 © NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY John Ritter, left,a first-year orthodontics resident and an Omicron Kappa Upsilon member,discusses the chapter with CDM professors Harvey A.Quinton,center, and Jason Portnof. BY CAROL BRZOZOWSKI CDM IMPRESSIONS Honor Bound DENTAL SOCIETY PROMOTES NETWORKING