Appointments, Dental Hygiene, Faculty and Staff

Wilder Appointed Assistant Dean for Professional Development and Faculty Affairs

Effective July 1, 2017, Professor Rebecca Wilder, director of the Master of Science in Dental Hygiene Education Program, began her appointment as the school’s first assistant dean for professional development and faculty affairs.

“When considering candidates for this role, Rebecca easily rose to the top,” said Scott S. De Rossi, dean and professor. “Rebecca has dedicated much of her time in recent years to developing our school’s faculty mentor program. That program is one the University regards as a standard on campus for other schools and units to follow. I am confident Rebecca will continue to move these efforts, and others, forward in this new role.”

With this new appointment, Wilder will continue her work with the faculty mentoring program while creating new initiatives and enhancing current efforts around professional and career development working closely with department chairs and the school’s Office of Human Resources to assist them in faculty affairs such as recruitments, on-boarding, credentialing, and promotion and tenure.

“I am thrilled about this new appointment,” said Wilder. “This is an exciting opportunity to enhance what we do at the school to improve the quality of life for our people, and I am looking forward to having a positive impact on our school community directly. Working with and mentoring the junior faculty has been one of the greatest pleasures of my career.”

Wilder earned her Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene and her Master of Science in dental hygiene education and administration from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Following her graduation and a one-year faculty appointment at Texas Woman’s University, she joined the UNC School of Dentistry in 1981. She currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dental Hygiene, and has published approximately 200 articles, abstracts, book chapters and editorials, and speaks internationally in the areas of nonsurgical periodontal therapy and products, oral-systemic health, risk and dental practice management and communication strategies for increasing patient adherence to oral health.

In 2014, Wilder won the inaugural UNC School of Dentistry Four Corners Study Club Faculty Mentoring Award. She is a recipient of the Colgate/International Association for Dental Research Oral Health Research Award for outstanding accomplishments in oral health research, the Pfizer/American Dental Hygienists’ Association Award for Excellence in Dental Hygiene, and the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She was a fellow in the 2007-08 ADEA Leadership Institute though the American Dental Education Association. Wilder is a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the dental honor society; Sigma Phi Alpha, the dental hygiene honor society; and maintains memberships in the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA), the American Dental Education Association, and other national and international organizations. She has served as chair of the ADHA Institute for Oral Health Research Grant Review Committee, the ADHA Council on Research, and president of the Oral Health Research Group of the International Association of Dental Research. She has also served the UNC campus as a member of the Faculty Executive Committee, and the Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee, both in the Office of the Provost.