Lasting Impressions | Summer 2017

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 5 DEVELOPING THE PLAN Abby J. Brodie, D.M.D., M.S., associate dean for academic affairs, serves as chair of the CDM’s Strategic Planning Oversight and Implementation Committee and previously served on the inNOVAtions Strategic Plan Committee. “The focus of the plan, in a very broad sense, will always be on the quality of our education, how we manage student needs, how we treat our patients, and how we improve all of our programs across the board,” Brodie said. “The new strategic plan is not drastically changed from the previous plan; it just hones in on some of the more closely identified areas, and sets the path for our future.” The CDM engaged Stephen Ferrante, M.S.W., managing partner of Group Victory—a Fort Lauderdale-based strategy and organization development consulting firm—to help facilitate the strategic planning process. He said one of the most important factors in developing the plan was the CDM’s determination to have all voices heard. “It was a highly participatory process; not just a few people in a room. It wasn’t the hiring of a consultant with someone saying, ‘Here are our ideas, write a plan, and give it to us,’ ” Ferrante said. The development included focus groups, surveys, and input from advisory council members, donors, students, residents, patients, staff and faculty members, and adjunct faculty. “Prior to seeking input, we invested time in conducting comparative analyses in the area of dental education at the university level,” Ferrante said. “We laid a foundation in which the school could set some priorities and develop the plan.” Even before the document was constructed, Ferrante said stakeholder involvement was crucial. “The extent to which this was a participatory process is incredibly important, because if people are invested from the beginning, they own it,” he explained. “They will see it through the execution process to make sure it gets carried out in the way it was intended. That builds in accountability.” Brodie agreed. “We wanted feedback from stakeholder groups. Different committee members helped to facilitate that. We welcomed each voice.” Ferrante said the college started its development of the strategic plan in June 2016 and chose a seven-month time frame, which seemed “fairly realistic for their time 1996 On March 26, 1996, Oliet becomes the founding dean of Nova Southeastern University’s College of Dental Medicine (CDM) and serves as dean until 2001. 2001 Robert Uchin, D.D.S., a Broward County endodontist, becomes the second dean of the CDM. There are 520 students in the college’s gradu- ate and postgraduate programs only four years after the inaugural class was admitted.