ONCAMPUS
On Board: Alfred L. Spencer, Jr.
Rite of Passage
Penn Dental Medicine welcomes a new addition to its Board of Overseers— Alfred L. Spencer, Jr., of Wilmington, Del. Spencer, who has worked in engineering management and integrated operations for the DuPont Company, was officially approved to the three-year renewable term as an Overseer at the November 2013 meeting of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees. Spencer, who holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Executive MBA from the University of Delaware, is currently a Continuous Improvement– Global Program Manager for DuPont, working on efforts to implement productivity processes across the North American manufacturing and the global Safety, Health, and Environmental organization. He has served as site engineering manager in the design and construction divisions with direct responsibility for multimillion-dollar manufacturing installations. Spencer is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, with expertise in applying Alfred L. Spencer, Jr. the Six Sigma business methodologies across platforms to control costs and reduce waste while maintaining quality. In recent years, he has held several positions in DuPont operations, including Master Production Scheduler, Demand Manager, and Global Supply Chain Manager for the Chemicals Solutions Unit. Recognized for outstanding leadership in the area of diversity, he was appointed DuPont Executive on Loan to N.A.C.M.E, (National Action Council for Minority Engineers), from 1993 to 1995. In this role, he worked to leverage corporate resources to assist in the development and marketing of an academic diversity workshop series aimed at increasing the retention rate of minorities in engineering. “Al’s strength as a facilitator of programs and new initiatives will be invaluable as we call on the Board to help move new goals and plans for the School forward,” says Morton Amsterdam Dean Denis Kinane. The Penn Dental Medicine Board of Overseers provides volunteer leadership to the School and acts as a sounding board and advisory resource for the Dean and other administrative leaders, stewarding the missions of both Penn Dental Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Dental Medicine welcomed the Class of 2017 DMD students into the study of dental medicine with its White Coat Ceremony, held Monday, August 26, at the Zellerbach Theatre in the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center. This annual tradition holds symbolic significance for the incoming class as they declare their commitment to assume the responsibilities and obligations of the dental profession. This year’s freshman class includes 120 students—55 men and 65 women, representing six foreign countries (Canada, Jamaica, People’s Republic of China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam) and 24 states. Widely accomplished (with an overall average GPA of 3.67), the class includes six students who have Master’s degrees and one with a JD, who was a practicing attorney before applying to Penn Dental Medicine. Nine members of this first-year class are legacy students with family members who are also Penn Dental Medicine alumni. There is also a brother/sister pair in the class (but no, not twins). Along with welcoming remarks by Penn Dental Medicine's Morton Amsterdam Dean, Dr. Denis Kinane, and Dr. Uri Hangorsky, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the ceremony included a keynote address by Michael A. Fitts, Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law at Penn Law, a talk by Dr. D. Walter Cohen (C’47, D’50), Dean Emeritus of Penn Dental Medicine, on the history of Penn Dental Medicine, and the presentation of each student in their white coats.
First-year students Khamida Badalova, Tiffany Lin, and Joanna Mangar at the white coat ceremony.
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