UB Dental School Campaign Raises $1.7 Million; Centennial Effort Surpasses Goal By 74 Percent

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In conjunction with the celebration of its 100th anniversary during 1992-93, the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine and its dental alumni association set out to raise $l million to provide a permanent endowment fund to support programs and activities of the school for which state funding is limited or unavailable.

Leaders of the UB Dental Centennial Campaign have announced that they raised the $1 million and then quite a bit more -- exceeding their goal by 74 percent and collecting $1,747,000 in gifts and pledges.

The announcement was made co-chairmen Roger Triftshauser, D.D.S., a member of the Class of 1961, and Richard A. Powell, a professor emeritus and 1949 graduate of the dental school.

Louis J. Goldberg, dean of the dental school since June 30, said the campaign's results "represent an extraordinary effort on the part of the friends of the UB School of Dental Medicine and are a tribute to the nationally recognized position of excellence that the school has attained during the more than 20 years under the deanship of Dr. William Feagans."

Goldberg said the endowment established with the money raised during the campaign "will be used to maintain the excellence of the academic programs, and to develop new initiatives in teaching, clinical practice and basic research."

The UB School of Dental Medicine in March was ranked No. 6 in the nation in its field by U.S. News & World Report in a compilation of "America's Best Graduate Schools."

In recent years, the school has been among the national leaders in terms of funding from the National Institute for Dental Research (NIDR). External funding of research in the school has gone from about $300,000 annually in 1970 to the current level of about $7 million.

In 1981, the school was named by the NIDR as the country's first specialized Periodontal Disease Clinical Research Center. In 1986, it was one of the first four dental schools in the United States named by the NIDR as a national Dental Research Institute in Oral Biology.

The honorary chairman of the drive was James A. English of San Diego, Calif., a former dean of the school.