Hutter Appointed Dean ad Interim of SDM
Professor of endodontics succeeds the late Spencer Frankl
Jeffrey Hutter, senior associate dean of the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, has been appointed dean ad interim of SDM following the death of longtime Dean Spencer Frankl on October 20. Karen Antman, dean of the School of Medicine and Medical Campus provost, announced Hutter’s appointment in a message to the Boston University community yesterday.
“Dr. Frankl was the longest serving dean of any dental school in the country and had recently announced his plan to step down,” Antman says. “Both Boston University President Robert Brown and I are grateful for Dr. Hutter’s willingness to take on this added responsibility during this transition.”
Hutter, who was recently elected chair of the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, is a professor of endodontics and the Herbert Schilder Chair of the endodontics department. He also directs the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Endodontics and previously was SDM’s associate dean for academic affairs. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of endodontics at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine.
He received a D.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, a certificate in endodontics from the Naval Postgraduate Dental School, and a master’s in education and human development from George Washington University. He is a diplomate and a past director of the American Board of Endodontics and a past director of the board of directors and a past president of the American Association of Endodontists.
“It’s a real honor to be given this opportunity and to have that challenge of succeeding someone who left such a mark on the University,” says Hutter. “I look at it as a wonderful opportunity and will do my best to continue the work that the School of Dental Medicine has been doing for the past 30 years.”
Hutter’s hopes for the current academic year include continuing many of the initiatives started under Frankl’s leadership, such as providing community-based educational and service opportunities for dental students and expanding the school’s global reach through the new BU Institute for Dental Education and Research in Dubai.
He says that Frankl, who expanded SDM’s degree programs over the course of his four decades at the school, was “an inspiration to us all.”
“He always brought out the best in each of us,” Hutter says. “I have told our students who have expressed their condolences to me that Dean Frankl will live on within each of them, and thus they should strive to do as well as they can in their studies and their chosen profession.”
Jessica Ullian can be reached at jullian@bu.edu.