Marita Inglehart among U-M faculty to receive new diversity professorship appointment3 min read

Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 19, 2019 – School of Dentistry faculty member Marita Inglehart is one of nine University of Michigan Professors who have been named the inaugural recipients of University Diversity and Social Transformation Professorships.

The U-M Board of Regents approved the appointments Thursday at its September meeting. The professorships were created to recognize senior faculty who have shown a commitment to the university’s ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion through their scholarship, teaching, service and engagement.

Dr. Inglehart is a professor of dentistry in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine and an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. She has spent her career promoting diversity, equity and inclusion both within the School of Dentistry and across the U-M campus. She has served in programs related to mentoring and advancement for underrepresented minority students, including the Comprehensive Studies Program Mentorship Program, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and the U-M Mentorship Program. She helped establish the dental school’s Multicultural Affairs Committee more than 20 years ago. She directs its ongoing continuing education program for faculty, students and staff that covers a wide range of topics in patient care, such as treating patients with disabilities, patients with neurological disorders, underserved populations and underrepresented groups.

Inglehart’s current research focuses on the role of social determinants of health and healthcare and related patient-centered outcomes. She studies the role of education in creating patient-centered and culturally aware future dentists and dental hygienists. Currently, Inglehart’s behavioral and clinical research focuses on how being a person who self-identifies as having an LGBTQ+ background affects this person’s oral health and utilization of oral healthcare.

The nine new Diversity and Social Transformation Professors will hold their initial appointments for five years and receive an annual stipend of $20,000 to support their scholarly and professional work. They also will receive special faculty fellow status at the National Center for Institutional Diversity, and will spend at least one semester as a faculty fellow-in-residence. For more information, see the announcement in the University Record.

This is the second DEI-related recognition Inglehart has received this year from the university. In May, she was one of six U-M faculty members who received the 2019 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award that is part of the annual Johnson Awards presentation.

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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care and community service.  General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan.  Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies.  Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.  For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu.  Contact: Lynn Monson, associate director of communications, at dentistry.communications@umich.edu, or (734) 615-1971.