ADEA Annual Report 2021 – Innovation and Excellence

Innovation and Excellence

ADEA Holds Its First Virtual Annual Session & Exhibition

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition was held for the first time in an all-virtual format on March 13-16, 2021.

The annual event took place in a virtual venue that included educational sessions, speakers’ listings and bios, TechExpo/Poster presentations and an Exhibit Hall. Attendees were automatically opted-in for the conference artificial intelligence matching feature. This feature allowed them to connect with colleagues, sponsors or exhibitors based on a predetermined set of criteria.

Attendee feedback to the 2021 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition was decidedly positive. Some expressed appreciation that the topic of diversity was covered from different perspectives. Then Chair of the ADEA Board of Directors Ryan Quock, D.D.S., who presided over that year’s annual session, issued a post-conference letter thanking attendees for participating and challenging them to remember the power of the annual session’s WE theme: A celebration of who WE are, and of what WE together collaborate to accomplish. WE are entrusted with the future of dental education.

ADEA eLearn Offers Courses at 2021 Annual Session & Exhibition, Will Launch Micro-credentialing Pilot Program

The ADEA eLearn website continues to provide free webinars each month for the professional development of ADEA members. In addition, the ADEA Meetings, Conference and Education Technology and Professional Development teams worked closely to launch on ADEA eLearn the “On-Demand: ADEA 2021 Annual Session & Exhibition” course to compliment the 2021 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition. This course included 84 presentations from the annual session. It was offered complimentary to attendees through Sept. 30, 2021, and available for a fee to non-attendees. ADEA members shared that most associations provide 30-day access to post-conference content and that this time frame was not sufficient. In response to member requests, ADEA delivered post-conference access to 2021 annual session content that is six times as longer than other associations.

Also, work on the upcoming Micro-credentialing Program, led by the ADEA Council of Sections, is in progress. To date, an oversight group has developed a common framework that all future ADEA micro-credentials will use for their assessments. Development of six micro-credentials is underway, with the goal of launching a pilot program in spring 2022.

ADEA Leadership Institute Goes Virtual Again in 2021

Phase II of the 2021-22 ADEA Leadership Institute took place Sept. 26−28, 2021, virtually. Over this three-day segment of the yearlong program, the Leadership Institute Phase II focused on advocacy as a leadership skill. Educational sessions on Congress, executive agencies, strategic partnerships, and the art of advocacy were delivered. Feedback about the online program was overall positive.

Summer Health Professions Education Program Goes Virtual Again in 2021

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic again necessitated virtual implementation of the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP), but with some notable changes. In 2020, the program was presented as an abbreviated four-week, 100% online experience. Leveraging the lessons learned from 2020, the 2021 virtual program successfully returned to the traditional six-week model, conducted entirely online. Also in 2021, the cost savings and flexibility of online implementation allowed for program expansion, and more than 100 additional scholars participated in the 2021 program than in 2020.

Thanks to the continued support and generosity of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the SHPEP National Program Office (NPO) was able to provide participating scholars with the standard stipend, a subsidy to offset food and lodging costs associated with participating in the program remotely. Additionally, the NPO and program sites again worked together to provide laptops, Wi-Fi hot spots and other technology resources to create digital equity among scholars. The NPO is proud to report that despite the challenges of delivering a virtual program during a pandemic, the overwhelming majority of scholars (98%) who responded to the post-program survey indicated they would recommend SHPEP to a peer.

SHPEP boasts impressive program outcomes that have significantly impacted dental education and the dental profession. Since ADEA joined the program in 2006, 2,517 pre-dental scholars have participated in the program and 1,563 (62.1%) applied to dental school. Of those applicants, 1,273 (81.4%) enrolled. As of 2021, the program boasts 929 dental school graduates. Of those dental school graduates, 46.6% identify as being in an historically underrepresented racial ethnicity (HURE) group, and 66.3% are women. And in the 2020 entering class at U.S. dental schools, SHPEP HURE participants had an enrollment rate 14.5 percentage points higher than HURE applicants overall.

SHPEP NPO Invests in Technology, Introduces Interactive Workspace and Mentorship Program

The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) National Program Office (NPO) recently launched the SHPEP Interactive Workspace, powered by Higher Logic, which has replaced the former email listserv as the primary way the NPO communicates with SHPEP program site staff. The SHPEP Interactive Workspace encourages collaboration across programs sites, as it features a message board, an email digest and a document library where resources and other communications can be easily shared and accessed by all members of the community.

Recognizing the value of its substantial alumni base, in 2020, the NPO chose to support program alumni by purchasing Almabase, an online alumni engagement platform. The SHPEP Online Community, powered by Almabase, facilitates social and professional connections among past program participants. Almabase will also enable the NPO to better track and communicate with program alumni. The NPO plans to formally launch a mentorship program in 2022, which will be administered through the Almabase mentorship module.

The NPO is also proud that 160 program alumni are now serving as SHPEP Ambassadors for the 2021-2022 academic year. SHPEP Ambassadors assist the NPO with recruitment and outreach on their campuses and within their larger communities.

SHPEP Program Case Study Featured in AAHC Pipelines to Pathways Best Practices Initiative

A Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) case study was featured in an Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) Pipelines to Pathways Best Practices Initiative. In 2021, AAHC invited ADEA to participate in its Pipelines to Pathways initiative, which ”aims to discover lessons learned and catalogue success factors for pathway programs.” ADEA submitted a case study highlighting SHPEP’s successful conversion from an in-person residential program to a virtual experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study, entitled “Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP): A Promising Model Pathway Program Preparing Diverse Pre-dental Students during a Global Pandemic”, which was authored by ADEA Access, Diversity and Inclusion and the ADEA Office of Policy and Educational Research.

ITWS and HR Teams Create ADEA Intranet Portal

ADEA’s IT and Web Services team collaborated with ADEA’s Human Resources (HR) team to design and deploy ADEA’s Intranet portal. The portal gives staff quick and secure access to pertinent information in an easy and accessible way that eliminates searching through vast amounts of email or folders on the network. ADEA is using Microsoft 365 SharePoint technology for this purpose. The intranet was introduced first as a pilot and then launched with pages focused on HR material. Portals for ADEA’s Communications and Information Technology departments are being readied and will be deployed during the first quarter of 2022.

ADEA Focuses on Cybersecurity

ADEA’s IT and Web Services (ITWS) team implemented important security enhancements to ADEA’s technology services infrastructure. They include:

Endpoint security service—ADEA deployed a new anti-malware service, Sophos Intercept X, on all laptops and servers. In addition to regular anti-virus features, this cloud-based service offers potential safeguards from malicious websites. ADEA has also signed up for Sophos’ Managed Threat Response service. This service provides active 24/7 threat hunting, detection and response from their Security Operations Center.
Firewall—ADEA deployed new network firewalls that offer better protection and redundancy. The set of two has been configured in a high-availability mode so that if the primary unit malfunctions, the second firewall kicks into operation.
Multi-factor authentication—In order to enhance secure access to ADEA’s information resources, ITWS deployed multi-factor authentication for ADEA’s network and communication and collaboration platforms. ADEA utilizes Cisco Duo, a leading provider of security services, to safeguard access to the Microsoft 365 platform and to ADEA’s network.
Security awareness—One of the crucial parts of a proactive security strategy is user education. New staff orientation at ADEA includes IT security awareness training. Additionally, to keep staff alert and up to date with phishing scams, ADEA periodically sends out simulated phishing attacks and regularly updates cybersecurity training material provided by security awareness training provider, KnowBe4.

A Year of Accomplishment, Focusing on the Future

From the launch of an ambitious climate study of dental education, to the development of a multitude of reports that shed new light on dental education, to the hosting of conferences and webinars that brought together the best minds in academic dentistry, ADEA made 2021 a year of continued commitment to its members. ADEA fought for additional resources for its member organizations and invested in new technologies to better serve them. Together, we continued to navigate the challenges posed by a stubborn pandemic, finding opportunity in crisis and helping to craft and showcase innovative solutions that will improve oral health and lift up the next generation of dental educators.