Students Celebrate Major Milestone at 2023 Commencement Ceremony

UNC Adams School of Dentistry students recently celebrated a major milestone at the annual commencement event May 12 at Carmichael Arena. Around 150 students received degrees and certificates in dental hygiene, advanced dental education and doctor of dental surgery.

Event speakers included Janet Guthmiller, DDS, PhD, dean, Adams School of Dentistry; Stan Bergman, BS, CPA, CEO, Henry Schein; and student representatives, including Karina Ibarra, president, Dental Hygiene Class of 2023; Jennie Ledbetter, BS, RDH, Advanced Dental Education Class of 2023; and Danielle Nicholson, president, DDS Class of 2023.

“One of our greatest honors as educators is to teach intelligent, dedicated, and hard-working students, and the graduates sitting before us this evening are just that. I know I speak for our faculty when I say that we are excited to watch you flourish as professionals, and that we will be cheering your continued success from Chapel Hill,” Guthmiller said.

Bergman stressed that in today’s digitized world, the concern for people – the human connection in the practice of dentistry – will always be paramount, from caring for patients and building and mentoring the office team to collaborating with other health care professionals, and giving back to society.

“We live in a world that is increasingly driven by technology, but we must remember that technology is just a tool, and humans wield that tool. How we wield that tool depends on our human touch,” Bergman said. “What links the best dental practitioners across the

decades, and will continue to be the defining quality of the best dentists in the future, is the ability to establish a caring human connection.”