Wallet appointed associate dean for faculty affairs

Wallet webShannon Wallet, Ph.D., an associate professor in oral biology, has been appointed associate dean for faculty affairs for the University of Florida College of Dentistry effective July 1, 2016.

“Dr. Wallet brings to this position a strong track record of advising and mentoring students, post-docs and junior faculty as well as university governance and service. She is currently the chair of the UFCD Culture Climate Workgroup and serves on the curriculum and constitution committees as well as on the Faculty Advisory Board. I am extremely pleased to have her join our administrative leadership team,” said A. Isabel Garcia, D.D.S., M.P.H, dean of the college.

As associate dean for faculty affairs, Wallet will have the responsibility of supporting college faculty through a variety of functions including college-wide programs for career development, orientation, mentoring and recognition programs. She also will oversee the college promotion and tenure process, assist in recruiting new faculty, provide guidance for faculty regarding university guidelines and processes, and represent UFCD at the university level in faculty development matters. Wallet also will provide counsel to the college leadership and individual faculty regarding governance matters.

Wallet holds a bachelor’s in medical technology from North Carolina State University and a degree in clinical laboratory science from Duke University. She earned her Ph.D. in oral biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 and joined UF in 2006 as a tenure-accruing assistant professor in the department of periodontology. She was promoted to associate professor and was awarded tenure in July 2013.

Wallet will continue her current teaching and research efforts. Her teaching efforts span from directing DEN6128: Host Defense course for DMD students to participating in multiple courses for dental and medical graduate educational programs. Her research interests focus on mechanisms associated with altered innate immune functions, which lead to dysregulated adaptive immunity. Through her independent and collaborative research programs she has been involved, in investigating the basic biology of health, multiple autoimmune conditions, auto-inflammation, sepsis, exercise induced inflammation and, most recently, cancer.