75th Anniversary Summit Conference 1 Beyond the University: Leadership for the

Abstract: Leadership in health professions education and the university in general has been the subject of intense scrutiny and observation in recent years. For a variety of reasons, universities and their component schools (including dental schools) are not always perceived to advance goals for the common good. The conclusion of this report is that common good unfolds from effective leadership. The report examined in the tenets for why oral health care matters and why it deserves more significant national attention. The failure for oral health issues to reach the national conscience is due, in large part, to ineffective leadership. Effective and apparent leadership styles are described in the paper, including the context of why effective leadership is more important now than ever. In addition, the characteristics of leaders to advance the public good are noted. Leadership necessary to reclaim the public trust in higher education is also discussed. Leadership and “followership” rallying around goals for the common good provide a significant path for dental schools and their parent universities to accomplish great things. The absolute necessary ingredient from which common good develops is effective leadership. Common good unfolds from effective leadership.The thesis proposed in this paper is that, for avariety of complex reasons, dental schools and universities are not always perceived to advance goals for the common good and, thus, both leaders and fol-lowers (in this case, faculty, students, alumni/ae, soci-ety) are compromised