Linda Behar-Horenstein helps professors go back to school.
UF College of Dentistry earned a $2.5 million grant to refresh its professors on the newest teaching methods.
“We’re onto something really novel here,” said Behar-Horenstein, UF distinguished teaching scholar and professor.
The Health Resources and Services Administration gave the development grant to the dentistry school in July, but won’t implement the plan until January.
“The primary target is faculty, the intermediate benefit are students and the ultimate benefit are the patients,” said Frank Catalanotto, professor and chairman of community-based programs.
Faculty members will learn new teaching techniques and receive training.
“When I came in, I was a dentist, but I didn’t know anything about teaching,” Catalanotto said.
The training will also include how dentists can empathize with underprivileged patients as well as opportunities for students to work at federally funded health care centers before entering dental school.
“Through case-based learning, cultural competency workshops and the implementation of programs for students interested in public health and academic careers, the grant will not only have a positive impact on the dental curriculum but also prepare future UFCD graduates to meet the oral health needs of Florida’s growing population,” Olga Luaces, a 23-year-old second-year dental graduate student, wrote in an email.
“I don’t want to come out and say it’s a problem, but if you haven’t walked in someone’s moccasins, you don’t know what they have been thorough,” Behar-Horenstein said.
