Olga Luaces, D.M.D., M.P.H., received a 2018 American Dental Education Association/African American Latina/o, or ADEA/AAL, Faculty of Color Tuition Scholarship for Professional Development. The award provides a full waiver of the tuition for the ADEA Summer Program for Emerging Academic Leaders offered in July 2018.
Luaces, who graduated with the UF DMD Class of 2015, will be honored during the 2018 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition in Orlando in March. She is an adjunct clinical assistant professor in the UF Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science.
The scholarship was created to enable faculty of color to participate in programs that improve their teaching abilities, increase their leadership skills, and advance their understanding and mastery of other critical elements of a successful academic career.
According to a 2012 ADEA Minority Affairs Advisory Committee survey on barriers to the leadership ladder, 20 percent of faculty of color responding to the survey indicated that they have never participated in any leadership development programs. For faculty of color in academia for 1-10 years, nearly 30 percent had not participated in such programs.
For more information about the scholarship, visit the ADEA website.