Eugene Rathbun, SD'65, MS'71 reviews alumni business during an evening meeting in Prince Hall. Also pictured is Kathleen Moore, executive director, Alumni Association (left), and Julie Sugita, SD'91; PG'93. Dr. Sugita will be the new editor of LLU DENTISTRY.

This 50th Anniversary year has certainly been an exciting one for our School of Dentistry. The Celebration during the Alumni Student Convention was amazing to many of us as it brought together many of the original faculty, researchers, and staff. I have never been so proud to be an alumnus of Loma Linda University School of Dentistry.

The School also completed the accreditation process with excellent results and many commendations. The years of study and planning that went into the process were outstanding and will reap many tangible rewards for our whole school.

I am encouraged to see our dean, faculty, and staff pushing back the frontiers in technology for learning didactic and clinical materials. They are developing material and capabilities for 3-D and "realistic" simulation of clinical procedures with tactile sense and feedback. Your support of the School through gifts and encouragement is greatly valued.

Alumni giving to the Annual Fund this year was the highest ever at $385,085. These gifts allowed us to support the students and faculty, as well as the School, in significant ways:

1. Our support for student missions, now called Service Learning, allowed 113 students to serve others on 24 international trips. This kind of service experience changes students and faculty in a very positive way. Their response has been uniformly enthusiastic.

2. We are able to support the recruitment and development of a number of young faculty, who are essential to our School's future.

3. We are supporting the development and implementation of a network infrastructure that will allow students and faculty to take advantage of technology developed for didactic, laboratory, and clinical learning. By going to gigabit data transmission speeds, the School is now poised to implement electronic patient records with chairside treatment plan entry and digital radiographs.

In the near future we will be given the chance to help support the building of a new faculty dental practice that will greatly improve the clinical practice of the faculty, and provide opportunities for students to observe their faculty in a private practice "real world" experience.

Keressa Jones, whose pleasant voice has greeted you when you phoned the alumni office and has done so much behind the scenes as assistant director of the Alumni Association, has decided to move to Seattle, Washington. She will be greatly missed. Mr. Eddie Glassford will be moving into her position after successfully leading our continuing education program. He came to our School with a background in marketing, corporate relationships, and desktop publishing. He is organized and thorough in his service to our school. His strengths in organizing continuing education and gaining corporate support will be very well utilized in our association. Kathleen Moore continues as our executive director in the overall leadership and organization and is excited to have Mr. Glassford join the Alumni Association staff.

It would be a great joy for me to welcome you to the 2004 Alumni-Student Convention where we will learn, fellowship, and worship February 5 through 8, 2004. The Thursday evening reception is proving to be a highlight for many alumni, who come to visit with classmates and former faculty. Please plan on joining us for that event!

Gene Rathbun, SD'65, MS'