After 45 years, Associate Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry Marsha Cunningham-Ford is retiring from the UI College of Dentistry. Her final day was January 3.
In 1979, Cunningham-Ford came to the University of Iowa after completing her Master’s degree (w/ emphasis in Education) from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. She was hired to plan community-based programing for senior dental students on extramural locations across Iowa where the College of Dentistry mobile dental unit was located for 4-6 weeks at a time. That program was later lost to a state budget cut in the early 80s. By that time, she was involved in teaching in the D1 and D2 Preventive clinics. She became Course Director for the D1 Preventive courses when Howard Field retired.
“When I came to Iowa in 1979, 99% of the faculty were men and we had a phone on our desk, no computers… but lots of paper stored in old metal file cabinets. Now we have a phone in our pocket and we can’t function without it”, says Cunningham-Ford. “Over the last 45 years, we transitioned from paper patient records to electronic patient records, analog to digital radiographs and we made it through clinical renovations in DSB and the covid shut-down.”
Over the years, Cunningham-Ford taught over 4,000 predoctoral dental students and hundreds of grad students in “Teaching Methods and Evaluation”.
“I loved the challenge of teaching novice clinicians in all of the basics to provide excellent preventive clinical care for our patients," she added.
She also participated in Faculty General Practice in the Dental Science Building (one day a week), and she will miss all of her loyal patients, some that she saw for over 30 years. She participated in every CoD fundraising campaign and the teaching station in Preventive Clinic is named in her honor.
Cunningham-Ford won several teaching awards at the national, university, and collegiate level. She was active In the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). She served in the ADEA Council of Faculties from 2003-09 and section officer in ADEA in 1987-90 and again in 2012-15.
Cunningham-Ford served as president of Omicron Kappa Upsilon dental honor society (OKU), University of Iowa’s Mu chapter in 2018. She served on the UI Faculty Senate and Faculty Council, as well as the UI CoD Dental Alumni Board.
“I participated in 6 accreditation site visits at Iowa (every 7 yrs), and I especially enjoyed chairing the Curriculum committee for 8 years, which was a high point in my career, thanks to an opportunity offered by Dr. Jed Hand, as Executive Associate Dean," says Cunningham-Ford. "I appreciate all of my teaching mentors that have passed…Mike Finkelstein, Hermina McLeran, Howard Field and Bob Glenn, along with my retired colleagues: Jamie Sharp, Ray Kuthy, Jed Hand and Ron Ettinger. I have worked for three Deans and eight departmental chairs in Preventive & Community Dentistry. I think each one acknowledged my strengths in teaching and helped me to fill in some of my deficits as faculty, as a first-gen college student, with only a Master’s degree. I felt immersed in a 'culture of caring' initiated by Dean McLeran and expanded by Dean Johnsen, continuing now with Dean Stanford.”
“I really appreciate the departmental support and collegiality with the current departmental members: Teresa Marshall, John Warren Steve Levy, Pete Damiano, Jen Sukalski, Dan Caplan, Julie Reynolds, Jen Hartshorn, Rohit Nair, Jhanvi Desai, Howard Cowen, Robin McNeil, Brendan Young, Michelle McQuistan and current chair, Dr Leo Marchini," says Cunningham-Ford
Cunningham-Ford co-authored over 30 educational research articles in peer-reviewed journals with her colleagues.
“As emeriti faculty, I plan to retain an active role as a part of the best dental school in the world!", says Cunningham-Ford.