Sully students get dental school opportunities

Special to the Avalanche

Two degrees - biology and dentistry - in seven years.

An agreement between Sul Ross and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio Dental School will enable qualifying students to earn a bachelor of science degree at Sul Ross and a doctor of dental surgery at UTHSC in seven years.

The Dental Early Admission Program (DEAP), was recently approved when documents were signed by Sul Ross President Vic Morgan and UTHSCSA officials David Cappelli, William Doe and Ken Kalkware. Christopher Ritzi, Sul Ross Biology Department chair, and Jim Case, dean of Arts and Sciences, were also in attendance.

?This shaves a year off the normal process,? Ritzi said. ?Plus, it helps students from small universities get into dental school, which can be difficult when competing for a limited number of spots with students from big schools.?

Students involved in DEAP must be admitted to Sul Ross, and once completing 12 hours but no more than 32 hours of academic work, they must be accepted by the health science adviser in the Biology Department. The student must have an acceptable pre-entry interview by the UTHSCSA Dental School faculty and must have Texas resident status or have a waiver for entry.

?Once accepted into the program, a student completes his/her first

three years at Sul Ross taking all of our required courseware, and then

transfers to dental school,? Ritzi said.

Sul Ross studies include 38 hours of core curriculum, 26 hours of biology and eight hours of supporting courses such as math, physics and chemistry. Completion of the three-year curriculum requires a grade point average of 3.4 or higher in all courses, a score of 18 or above on the Dental Admission Test, a positive recommendation from the Health Professions Committee of the Sul Ross School of Arts and Sciences, and a positive record while a pre-dental student. From this point, students will transfer to UTHSCSA for their first year.

?Once they have completed their first year of dental school, those course credits are applied to their BS degree here at Sul Ross,? Ritzi said. ?They are awarded their bachelor's of science in biology from Sul Ross.?

After completing the four-year dental school, the student will be granted a D.D.S. degree.

Currently, Lucia DeLaRosa of San Antonio is in the program, Ritzi said. DeLaRosa recently completed a project titled ?Reshaping of Dental Practices in the 21st Century,? which explained laser dentistry. For more information on DEAP, call Ritzi at 432-837-8420.

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