Role of the Dean

The Office of the Dean at West Virginia University School of Dentistry functions as the core of the dental school and its clinics providing leadership, administering guidance, offering resources and maintaining oversight of two fundamental priorities. The dean advises and leads a centralized administrative staff that is accountable for academic success of students and responsible for excellence in patient care. The dean’s office also acts as a crucial liaison to university administration, state agencies and national dental certification groups. Organizationally, the dean assigns specified administrative functions to associate deans in five areas who work collectively to make WVU School of Dentistry the dental school a leader in dental education. Those deans manage academic affairs for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral programs, admissions, clinical operations and student affairs and outreach. Development, finance, information technology and marketing staff also fall under the direction of the dean. Additionally, the dean serves as the Chief Dental Officer for the WVU Dental Corporation.