 Scholarship: From left, Drs. Kenneth Zganjar, Wilma Luquis-Aponte and Nicholas Kaleel pose for a group photo at the 2019 Academy for Advancing Leadership’s Institute for Teaching and Learning. The trio were the recipients of the ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure grants scholarship to attend the teacher-trainer program. |
Dr. Zganjar found that opportunity by attending the 2019 Academy for Advancing Leadership’s Institute for Teaching and Learning, a teacher-trainer program for full- or part-time dental educators and private practitioners who are interested in an academic career.
“The biggest takeaway from the workshop was that all aspects of dental education should be ‘patient centered,’” said Dr. Zganjar, who has a private practice in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and teaches one day a week at the pre-clinical fixed prosthodontics simulation lab at Marquette.
“Dental educators are tasked with making sure that their graduates are competent providers of dental care,” he said.
Dr. Zganjar was among the about 60 health educators and practitioners around the country who attended the program, which is offered by the Academy for Academic Leadership.
Dr. Zganjar, along with Drs. Nicholas G. Kaleel and Wilma Luquis-Aponte, attended the 2019 teacher-training program through the annual ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure scholarship program, as part of a commitment to support dental education and ADA general dentist members interested in academia.
The four-day program, held in August 2019 at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, involved class discussions, small-group projects, problem-solving exercises, observation and critique of teachers in action, peer feedback and presentations by Institute for Teaching and Learning Scholars.
 Listen: Dr. Wilma Luquis-Aponte smiles during a session at this year’s Academy for Advancing Leadership’s Institute for Teaching and Learning. “I wanted to become more aware of the new developments on teaching,” she said on why she attended the program. |
“I wanted to become more aware of the new developments on teaching,” said Dr. Luquis-Aponte on why she attended the program. “The program was very interactive [with] tons of valuable information and very mind-opening.”
This year’s Institute for Teaching Learning program is scheduled for Aug. 23-26 in Atlanta. Now in its 14th year, with over 700 alumni, the program combines presentations, discussions, small group activities and peer-to-peer learnings to give participants new teaching skills. The onsite program is followed by a six-month distance learning experience that includes online activities and interactive webinars.
Applications for the ADA CDEL tuition scholarship to the Institute for Teaching and Learning are due March 31. Scholarships will be granted by June 18. Each scholarship includes ITL tuition and airfare expenses. For more information on the ADA CDEL tuition scholarship to the Institute for Teaching and Learning, including the complete list of criteria and eligibility requirements, visit ADA.org and search "Dental Educator and Teaching Scholarships from the ADA."
To learn more about the Institute for Teaching and Learning, visit aalgroup.org/itl.
In addition, the Academy for Advancing Leadership is offering the Leadership Essentials for Advanced Program — which is designed to prepare new and incoming directors from advanced dental education programs for the different leadership, administrative, teaching and mentoring challenges they encounter while serving in their roles. The two-day program, presented by experienced past and present program directors, academic executives and leadership consultants, will be held May 7-8 in Atlanta. Accordingly, the Council on Dental Education and Licensure is seeking nominations and sponsoring one director of a Commission on Dental Accreditation-accredited advanced dental education program for the workshop. Applications for the LEAP workshop are due March 15. The scholarship will be granted by April. The scholarship will be in the amount of the AAL tuition.
For more information on the ADA CDEL scholarship to the Academy for Advancing Leadership, including the complete list of criteria and eligibility requirements, visit ADA.org and search “CDEL LEAP Scholarship.”