CLASS NOTES
Less than a decade after being a student on campus, Andre GhelfiThomas jumped at the chance to renew its dental clinics. BY AN N A FU N K
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The School of Dentistry’s clinics underwent a $5 million renewal over the past year that resulted in 46 thoroughly refreshed and modernized workstations known as “operatories” and a new Digital Dentistry Center. And making sure the project turned out right and performed well, both for student instruction and care delivery to the community, was an engineering alumnus who turns just 30 this spring: Andre Ghelfi-Thomas, Eng ’16, project manager for The Boldt Co., the project’s general contractor. “It was really a homecoming for me,” GhelfiThomas says. “It was cool to see the excitement of the students and staff walking past our job site daily and asking for updates.” The rising leader oversaw the construction through its completion, bridging the gap between architects, trade partners, construction crews and the university. The work is part of a larger plan that anticipates modernizing more than 151 operatories in the coming years. Last year, Ghelfi-Thomas renewed his Marquette ties in another way, joining dozens of fellow professionals in the first cohort of Marquette’s new Igniting Insights professional leadership development program. “It helped me take a step back and rise out of the details of my day-to-day job,” he says. As project manager, walking the streets of campus in boots and hard hat, Ghelfi-Thomas says his campus memories were still fresh enough that he identified with students he saw emerging from classes. Yet with nearly eight years of industry experience under his belt, he appreciated serving in a different role. “To be able to give back and help build at the school that gave me an opportunity, that was really rewarding for me.”