OKU, Kells Induct
New Members
Faculty members and students were recently
inducted into two LSUHSC School of Dentistry
honor societies. Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) and
the C. Edmund Kells Honor Society held their
annual joint convocation banquet on April 11 to
honor new members and to award scholarships to
deserving students.
OKU
is a national dental honor society created in
1914 to promote and recognize scholarship and
character among students of dentistry. Theta
Kappa, established in 1971, is the LSUSD
component chapter. The 2012 officers are
Dr. John Ritchie,
president; Dr. Laurie Moeller,
president-elect; Dr. Richard
Ballard,
vice-president; Dr. J
Hochstedler,
secretary-treasurer; and Dr.
Toby Cheramie,
past-president. With Dr. Ritchie’s retirement on
May 1, Dr. Moeller will assume the office of
president.
Each year the OKU chapter elects 12% of the
senior class to alumni membership. New alumni
members from the Class of 2012 are
Ashley Altazin,
Joshua Brandner,
Mohammed Ismail,
Cole Johnson,
Alexis Phaup,
and Nicole Thieler.
|
New OKU
alumni, from left, Cole Johnson, Ashley
Altazin, Nicole Thieler, Joshua Brandner,
Alexis Phaup and Mohammed Ismail |
Dr.
Archontia (Toula) Palaiologou,
assistant professor of periodontics and director
of the periodontics advanced education program,
and Darlene Brunet,
assistant professor and director of student
affairs, were inducted into OKU as faculty
member and honorary member, respectively.
|
OKU officers
with Darlene Brunet, honorary member
(second from left) and Dr. Toula
Palaiologou, faculty member (on right) |
Third-year dental student Katie
Evans
received the Dr. William S. Kramer Award of
Excellence. Recipients of the Randolph B.
Malloy/OKU Scholarship for Academic Excellence
were fourth-year students
Nicole Thieler
and
Mohammed Ismail.
The C. Edmund Kells Society, a local honor
society created at LSUSD, is named for New
Orleans’ most famous dentist. Dr. Kells was the
first U.S. dentist to take intraoral radiographs
on a living person. Current Kells Society
officers are Katie Evans,
president; Nicole Russo,
vice-president; and Matthew
Davis,
secretary/treasurer. Dr. Paul
Armbruster
serves as faculty advisor.
New members of the Kells Society who were
honored at the banquet are
Jennilee Arrington,
Zachary Bulmanski,
Erin Carter
and Brian Schmidt,
Class of 2012; Khanh Luong,
Kevin McPherson
and Sean Sebourn,
Class of 2013; and Matthew
Davis,
Colten Ducote,
Preston Jones,
Jacque LaBry,
Eun-Chee Lee,
Griffith Lewis
and Steven Nelson,
Class of 2014. The Kells Society 2012 honorary
faculty member is Dr. Robert
Brannon,
professor and director of the Division of Oral
and Maxillofacial Pathology.
Junior students, Christy
Lottinger
and Sean Sebourn
received the C. Edmund Kells Society Student
Scholar Award. The recipients of these
scholarships are regarded by their Kells
classmates as exceptional student dentists and
individuals.
|
Sean Sebourn
and Christy Lottinger with Dr. Paul
Armbruster, advisor, and Katie Evans,
president |
We congratulate the new members of Omicron Kappa
Upsilon and the C. Edmund Kells Honor Society as
well as the scholarship recipients of both
societies who exemplify academic, professional,
and personal excellence in dentistry. |