Sally AbuKlam is an influencer

Changemakers recognized

Alumni association board members honoured with University of Toronto Arbor Awards

By Marsha Malcolm

Influencers don’t just live on Instagram. Through their passionate commitment to the school and their fellow alumni, five current and former members of the alumni association board — Sally Abuklam 1T4, Sean Chung 1T3 MSC Ortho, Evie Jesin Hygiene 7T4 Dip DH, Carolyn Kay 6T6 Dip DH and Huy Nguyen 1T1 — prove that volunteerism can have a profound impact on their peers as well as generations of dental students. For that commitment, they are being honoured this fall with the University of Toronto’s Arbor Award, the University’s highest recognition for volunteers who have demonstrated long-standing support of the school’s faculties, colleges or to the broader University as a whole. 

Committed to mentorship and education, the board members have expanded opportunities for their fellow alumni to gain from their connection with the Faculty over the past several years. With 44 years of experience as an educator, for instance, Jesin felt she could positively influence programming through growing the alumni association board’s lecture series. The new lecture series was developed in partnership with the Faculty’s continuing dental education program, to run with the annual alumni association meetings. Alumni attendees are eligible for CE credits, adding value to their participation. “The lectures are given by people who provide their latest evidence-based research,” says Jesin. “It gives us a cutting-edge opportunity for learning.” 

One of the mandates of the board has been to provide essential mentorship opportunities for students, something that moved Chung to join the Board in 2015. In addition to being a practising orthodontist, Chung engages in mentorship as a clinical instructor in graduate orthodontics and paediatrics at the Faculty.

“It was nice to be able to share with [DDS4 students] some of the experiences and lessons that took a little time for me to figure out,” says Chung of his experiences at the alumni association’s mentorship events, adding that he hopes sharing his experiences helped “things go smoother and easier for them.” 

Nguyen concurs. He joined the board in 2015 to ensure that the DDS student experience at the Faculty was meaningful. “I had a good four-year experience at the Faculty,” says Nguyen. “It was definitely very challenging and definitely very difficult. One of the things I could contribute back was providing support and mentorship to the students in the DDS program,” he adds. Nguyen initially got involved to support DDS4 mentorship events. Going forward, he hopes the alumni association will be able to build programming around student mental health, which has recently become an important priority for the Faculty.

As connectors, the board members have been working to create networking and social opportunities for their fellow alumni. “We have a family at home, but we also need a professional family, a team. The bigger the team, the more insight we have,” says AbuKlam. 

For some, those connections are vital. As an internationally trained dentist, AbuKlam recognized early on that the alumni association was an especially important resource for this cohort. She joined the board in 2016, partially to help other internationally trained dentists take their place within the wider alumni community. “I wanted foreign-trained dentists like myself and fresh grads to be aware that this [community] is available,” says AbuKlam, who instructs part-time in the Faculty’s clinics. “It’s a valuable opportunity to stay connected.”

Invested in giving back to the school through their volunteerism, the award winners say they get back plenty in return.“The creativity of the board and the insights you get into the profession are certainly eye-opening and often validating,” says Kay, who has worked as a registered dental hygienist and obtained and earned a Master’s of Education from OISE in 1994. “It’s professionally rewarding and personally satisfying. It provides you an opportunity to collaborate with wonderful speakers [and colleagues],” she says.

For these changemakers, being involved in shaping the alumni association comes down to an essential gratitude for their education, and the profession it supports. “I have a wonderful career and a profession that has entitled me to do so many wonderful things,” says Jesin. “Really it all stems from the Faculty. If the Faculty wasn’t there to provide me with this education, where would I be?” she adds.

Alumni of the Faculty of Dentistry are automatically members of the alumni association and can choose to actively become involved in the alumni board. For more information on joining the board, visit the Faculty of Dentistry Alumni Association webpage.

 

Photo: Sally AbuKlam (Erin Vollick)