The driving force behind every school is the students, and Associate Dean of Education and Academic Affairs Dr. Laura Romito has kept Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) true to that mission since her appointment in 2022. Along with education and academic affairs, her office has grown to encompass admissions and enrollment management, student affairs, and financial services.
In collaboration with faculty serving on the admissions committee, admissions and enrollment management aims to select the most qualified applicants who demonstrate the academic, professional, and personal qualities needed to succeed in the DDS program. Additionally, the admissions team manages the application portal and processes, provides guidance to potential applicants, and oversees the new bachelor/DDS pathway program in collaboration with the IU School of Science.
Student affairs covers a lot of ground, dedicating time to admissions, recruitment, and student engagement and success. Between all these areas, they advocate for, coach, and support students throughout all stages of their academic career while connecting them with campus resources as needed. The student affairs team also plans and executes school-wide events, provides oversight of the Student Leadership Board, and provides employment guidance to students as they near graduation.
Financial services provides financial education and resources, administers financial aid, provides accurate financial aid information to prospective students, and collaborates with the education and academic affairs colleagues to offer creative and compliant financial aid solutions for students in unique situations.
Academic affairs focuses on academic record management, assessment of student learning and programmatic assessment, curriculum, management of academic accommodations, rotation scheduling, instructional technology, and educational research. In a nutshell, their work aims to promote a positive learning environment, support student achievement, lead curricular innovation and transformation, support faculty excellence in teaching and assessment, and engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Since Romito took the reins, some of the notable implementations include the recent curriculum transformation, early identification and intervention for at-risk students, a study coaches program utilized by several courses, and support for novel educational spaces, technologies, and learning resources, including the new Anatomage Table for head and neck anatomy teaching via a partnership with the School of Health & Human Sciences.
“Our office now has multiple components, but they all fit together like pieces of a puzzle,” Romito concluded. “It creates wraparound services for our students, from recruitment to employment, and everything in between.”