Lasting Impressions | Summer 2016

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE x 17 became the second dean at the CDM in 2001. He held that position until 2013. Although he stepped down as dean, he continued to teach. “I’m 82 now,” said the endodontist. “But age has never been a factor for me; age is a matter of mind.” He said his reason for retiring was less about him and more about the school. “I felt it was time for someone with a higher degree of energy and a next decade of foresight to become a leader of the CDM,” he admitted. After a national search, Linda Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., was appointed as the third dean, joining the CDM in October 2013 from the Depart- ment of Restorative Dentistry at Texas A&M Uni- versity’s Baylor College of Dentistry. “He’s made such an impact,” Niessen said about Uchin. “His presence will be forever felt.” A walking historical timeline of events in the CDM, Uchin beams with pride at how far the college has come since its founding, with most of its growth happening during his tenure. “We’ve continued to prosper as an educational center, in the quality of our students, staff members, and educators,” he said. “Our strength has been that we are anxious to grasp introductions of new techniques and equipment, to modernize dentistry, to learn these ideologies, and pass them on to our students.” Leaving a Legacy Although Uchin continued to teach after stepping down as dean, he announced his ultimate retirement in 2015. There are things he’ll miss about being on the CDM campus daily, including teaching students to be “intellectually curious as to what is next for dentistry.” But there’s also the commitment to his faculty members as a leader to ensure they were committed to learning. “I have always supported the faculty members I was responsible for,” Uchin stated. “Most of them, probably 75 percent, I hired.” To that end, he and his wife, Marlene, have created the Robert and Marlene Uchin Faculty Development Fund. “While the university supports continuing education for every faculty member, we decided to set up a support fund Robert Uchin talks with Gabriela Bozzuti, CDM assistant professor in postgraduate prosthodontics, and Richard Herman, CDM adjunct professor in graduate endodontics.