Teaching Assistants Recognized During Appreciation Lunch

On May 1, 2015, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) teaching assistants (TAs) were recognized during the annual Teaching Assistant Appreciation Lunch. Sixty-nine TAs from three pre-clinical courses joined together in the Dean’s Conference Room for lunch in recognition of their support throughout the year.

Students selected to be TAs are all fourth year DMD and second year Advanced Standing students and must: have an interest in the subject matter; be in good academic standing; have no past or present disciplinary action; and, have a history of cooperation, positive faculty interaction, and time management skills. Individual course directors may have other specific requirements as well.

At the appreciation lunch, Dr. Ferriero spoke highly of his TAs. “My course is much better because of the invaluable support from the TAs. The students in the course love being taught by their peers, and the TAs get a refresher in the subject matter they originally learned to appreciate several years prior.”  He also thanked the TAs who assisted in the Pre-clinical Removable Prosthodontics course and read a statement by Director of Pre-clinical Removable Prosthodontics Dr. Ronni Schnell, who was unable to attend the lunch.

Director of Pre-doctoral Endodontics Dr. Jason Zeim also expressed his thanks to the students who assisted in his Pre-clinical Endodontics course. “It was just recently that we added TAs in the Endodontic Pre-clinical Course and I could not be happier,” he said. “The TAs are extremely helpful in all aspects of the course from the initial start and set up to the final summative exam.  They are a great benefit to the course as they are knowledgeable, eager, reliable and always supportive.”

Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter called each student up to the front of the room and individually presented each of them with a certificate of participation.

Certificates for Pre-clinical Endodontics were awarded to: Ingy Alhelawe DMD 15, Adam Barsoum AS 15, Puneet Brar AS 15, Erin Breen DMD 15, Amanda Brogly DMD 15, Brad Dressler DMD 15, Michelle Dube DMD 15, Ahmed El Zanfaly AS 15, Siavash Golaby Sanajany DMD 15, Destinee Ingrao DMD 15, Golnaz Kavand AS 15, Young Kwang Kim DMD 15, Hedieh Kousedghi  AS 15, Brian Leibtog DMD 15, Derek Leung DMD 15, Yanling Liu AS 15, Antonio Maceda-Johnson DMD 15, Amit Merchant AS 15, Thomas Mosely DMD 15, Ashish Papneja DMD 15, Melissa Parsa DMD 15, Ryan Pasiewicz DMD 15, Richa Rashmi AS 15, Marianella Romero AS 15 , Shivani Shirgavi AS 15, Neha Sood AS 15, Azeez Swarup AS 15, Diana Torres Cardona AS 15, Maria Vasilakos DMD 15, Joshua Williams DMD 15, and Yoshika Yamamoto DMD 15.

Certificates for Pre-clinical Removable Prosthodontics were awarded to: Passant Abdel Megeed AS 15, Roua Al Timimi AS 15, Hussain Alsarraf DMD 15, Harpriya Bal DMD 15, Sonya Hasan DMD 15, Delphine Jeong DMD 15, Golnaz Kavand AS 15, Reefat Malhotra AS 15, Keely Matheson DMD 15, Federico Perez AS 15, Andrew Pham DMD 15, Snehal Pingle AS 15, Sarah Procknik DMD 15, Marium Qureshi AS 15, Richa Rashmi AS 15, Lyle Smith DMD 15, Neha Sood AS 15, Zhi Sun AS 15, Azeez Swarup AS 15, Bernadete Therriault AS 15, and Joshua Williams DMD 15.

Certificates for Pre-clinical Occlusion were awarded to: Omar Alazizi DMD 15, Eamon Chory DMD 15, Christopher Connell DMD 15, Benjamin Cooperman DMD 15, Michelle DaRocha DMD 15, Michelle Dube DMD 15, Cassandra Fevelo DMD 15, Tina Giannacopoulos DMD 15, Sonya Hasan DMD 15, Justine Karanian DMD 15, Brandon Ladeau DMD 15, Emma Amal Lattouf DMD 15, Keely Matheson DMD 15, Jessica Metcalfe DMD 15, Daniel Moynihan DMD 15, Sarah Procknik DMD 15, and Maria Vasilakos DMD 15.

Dean Hutter said, “I wish to express my thanks to each and every Teaching Assistant. Your efforts in support of these pre-clinical courses are truly appreciated and are invaluable to both the course directors and the students you are teaching.”

Photos are available on Facebook and Flickr.