Dental bill would retain faculty

Kayla Webley
2005-03-10
The Daily

The UW School of Dentistry could get some help retaining faculty members if House Bill 1612 continues to move successfully through the Washington State Legislature.

If passed, the bill would modify licensing provisions for faculty members in the school, allowing part-time employees to retain their dental licenses.

The current law allows, the dean of the dental school may administer licenses to dentists who wish to practice only as full-time faculty within the school, according to Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, the bill's primary sponsor.

Revising the old law would benefit full-time faculty who retire from the school and then wish to return and work part-time. According to Kilmer, three full-time faculty members are scheduled to retire at the end of the year. An additional eight faculty would be impacted "farther down the road," he said.

"At a time when we are looking to recruit and retain great faculty, this is a bill that is necessary to do that," said Kilmer.

The legislation's momentum increased Tuesday when the House members -- with one absence -- unanimously passed the bill. Legislators said they are optimistic about the bill's passage through the Senate, where it will be scheduled for a vote before the end of the session.

"There was no opposition," said Kilmer. "I think most people understand this is something that is for the good of being able to recruit and retain great faculty."

According to Robert O'Neal, the associate dean for clinical services in the School of Dentistry, the bill is a necessary change to the old law.

"When the bill was written 20 years ago we didn't have that many [faculty] retiring," said O'Neal, who testified in favor of the bill in Olympia. "We essentially just modified the old bill so it reflects the increasing number of faculty that want to retire and come back on full time."

The dental school looks forward to keeping some of its senior faculty around for a few more years, in line with the UW policy of working 40 percent of the time for up to five years after retirement.

"[The faculty] are a valuable asset to the dental school, so this is a win-win situation," O'Neal said.