Adams Rural Oral Health and Wellness Scholars

About the AROWS Program

The UNC Adams School of Dentistry partners with UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC to offer the Adams Rural Oral Health and Wellness Scholars (AROWS) Program. The program targets dental students interested in a career caring for underserved North Carolinians. AROW Scholars engage in a two-year set of evening learning experiences, a week-long rural health immersion, and a semester-long clinical experience in MAHEC’s Dental Health Centers in Asheville, NC, and Columbus, NC, providing care to the underserved in the western part of our state. AROWS graduates enter their dental careers with extra preparation and experience that helps them successfully practice in underserved communities.

Learn More: See the AROWS program overview, and hear from the students.

Program Overview

D3 YEAR

Fall
  • Class is presented with AROWS Program information and recruitment season starts
  • Chapel Hill presentation regarding the AROWS Program by UNC AROWS Program Faculty and MAHEC
  • Application link goes live and applications will be submitted
  • Finalist applicants are interviewed and cohort is selected
Spring
  • Evening Series Begins (continues through D4 Year)
  • AROWS in the Mountains (AIM) Week: Public Health/Rural Health Immersion

D4 YEAR

  • All Year: Evening series continues
  • Fall: First half of Cohort reports to MAHEC for clinical semester
  • Spring: Second half of Cohort reports to MAHEC for clinical semester

GRADUATION

Receipt of certificate of completion of AROWS Program, Graduation with Green Cord, and notations in Graduation Program. For students who commit to both the AROWS program and the IPE Program with graduation with distinction in IPE; completion of the AROWS program fulfills many of the IPEP distinction requirements.

Student Housing Information

Housing is provided for students and is conditional on adherence to NC AHEC housing rules (no pets and no significant others). Housing is usually located in Hendersonville, NC, positioned between the two MAHEC Dental Health Center locations.

MAHEC Dental Health Center at Biltmore
123 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803

MAHEC Dental Health Center at Columbus
130 Forest Glen Road
Columbus, NC 28722

Application

Click here to apply.

Questions may be submitted to:

Katherine Jowers, DDS
Director, Adams Rural Oral Health and Wellness Scholars Program
jowers@unc.edu or Katherine.Jowers@MAHEC.net

Michelle Pittman
Program Administrator, Adams Rural Oral Health and Wellness Scholars Program
Michelle.Pittman@mahec.net