New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) has introduced the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Academy of Distinguished Educators (JADE), published by NYUCD. JADE can be accessed by going to https://www.nyu.edu/dental/ade/.
An online-only, open-access journal, JADE is the publications component of the NYU Academy of Distinguished Educators. The mission of the Academy is to enhance overall teaching at NYUCD and to stimulate excitement among teachers around their intellectual content.
JADE intends to invite experts in higher education to face off on the thorny issues confronting higher education, even as it endeavors to foster interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration.
“The mission of JADE is to endorse reinforce the goals of the Academy of Distinguished Educators and to promote the free exchange of ideas regarding higher educational theory, methods, and tools,” said Dr. Mary E. Northridge, JADE editorial panel chair and assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYUCD. “On behalf of the Editorial Panel of JADE, I hope that you will enjoy the publication and the website, and that you will share it with your colleagues. We look forward to your comments and suggestions,” she said.
This inaugural issue is a model for the sorts of topics that JADE intends to tackle.
In his provocative centerpiece article, titled “The Dental Education Bubble: Are We Ready for a LEED-Style Rating?” NYUCD Dean Charles N. Bertolami uses the LEED rating system as a prototype that, in his own words, “could be adapted to dental education in order to give dental school applicants, faculty members, governmental officials, the media, and the public a more open and honest appraisal of what a given educational program has to offer and what the educational product is really expected to be.”
In his cogently argued rejoinder, Allan J. Formicola asserts that the rating system proposed will not improve the profession, because the current accrediting process does take into consideration differences in dental schools’ missions and goals, “but assures that all schools, new and established, meet standards that are accepted by the academy, the practicing community, and the licensing community.”
Finally, Ronald Bayer places his emphasis on “what the state has a duty to do to assure equitable access to healthcare services, to create just healthcare systems, and to secure the social conditions that promote health and limit disease and disability,” and asserts that a core mission of dental education in the United States ought to be understanding the social forces that may foster or impede the path to dental justice.
