Dual Dental Support Helps Students
and Patients

A $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to Marquette University School of Dentistry (MUSoD) will benefit both future caregivers and those who need care. The dual-purpose gift enabled the school to establish a new endowed scholarship for dental students as well as a fund for under- and uninsured patients needing dental care.

“When I was a student, the thing that caused us grief was waiting in line to use lab equipment,” says the class of ’73 MUSoD alumnus. “So, when I started practice, I donated this much-needed equipment to the school.” He notes that tuition was not a problem in his day. “As a student, I was able to work as a lab tech and thereby pay my way through school.” Times have changed. After asking how best he could help the school now, he learned of the tremendous need for scholarship and patient care support and made his decision.

Marquette University School of Dentistry has the privilege and responsibility of being Wisconsin’s only dental school. Maintaining the school’s reputation for and commitment to excellence in education, research, and service in the context of contemporary dental education is a costly venture. The cost of dental education is high, and many students need support if they hope to graduate without accumulating too much debt. Scholarships allow the school to invest in promising future providers who might otherwise be unable to afford a Marquette dental education.

In keeping with the university’s Jesuit social justice mission, the School of Dentistry offers oral health care services to all—including the most vulnerable in our communities. In addition to helping to fill a gap in our local health care market, the school’s dental clinics provide students with necessary clinical experience and, most important, transformational encounters as they use their skills and abilities to serve those in need. Many of these patients, however, may be unable to pay for the care they require. The anonymous donor’s new fund will help the school offset some of the cost of serving low-income, under- or uninsured patients who cannot afford to pay for necessary dental care.

Providing dental care for the underprivileged is nothing new for this donor. During his time in practice, he and his dental assistant wife would trek to places like Honduras, Mexico, and Christmas Island and work long days addressing local needs. “Fillings, dentures, and oral surgery … we did it all,” he explains. “We got to be experts in remote field work with minimal resources.”

As for his generosity toward Marquette School of Dentistry—he has also made the school a beneficiary of his estate—our donor sees it as reimbursement. “Everything I have I wouldn’t have if Marquette had not let me in the front door. I graduated near the top of my class, but I was probably the last in the class to be admitted. I’ve been successful, and I owe Marquette a lot!”