UF College of Dentistry celebrates Class of 2026 Commencement while honoring the Charter Class that started it all.
It’s been half a century since the UF College of Dentistry Charter Class became the first of our brand: Gator Dentists.
On Friday, May 15, the UFCD Class of 2026 carried this brand of excellence forward, becoming the 51st class to earn their Doctor of Dental Medicine degrees from the University of Florida.
“The dentists who emerge from the University of Florida are among the very best in the country,” Dean A. Isabel Garcia said during the commencement ceremony at UF’s Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
She noted the consistent feedback the college collects from each DMD class after they’ve had a few years to settle into their practice or residency.
“Many alumni comment on the stark differences they notice in their preparation, compared with colleagues who graduated from other dental schools,” Garcia said. “Certainly, the caliber of the Gator Dentist Nation becomes even clearer as our graduates enter the workforce.”
Today, UFCD maintains exceptionally competitive acceptance rates for its DMD and advanced dental education programs.
“The excellence we adhere to — in everything we do — allows us to be selective, defining the esteem of each seat offered in our dental education programs,” Dean Garcia said. “Our college’s low acceptance rate reflects the strong desire of many prospective students to secure one of the 159 seats we fill each year.”
Five decades of institutional growth, curricular refinement and achievement of an ever-expanding alumni base now define the college’s reputation. But in 1972, when the members of the DMD Class of 1976 began their journey, Florida’s first dental school was still a success story waiting to be written.
“They took a chance on a new dental school, entrusting their education to the University of Florida, and to the dentists whose long advocacy brought the state’s only public dental school to fruition,” Garcia said.
Charter Class member Paul Benjamin, D.M.D., spoke to this brave and worthwhile choice during his speech, reflecting on the group of “visionaries” who made his identity as a Gator Dentist possible.
“Let’s go back in time to when this all began,” Benjamin, a Florida native, said. “There was no dental school in the state of Florida.”
Before 1972, aspiring dentists in Florida were forced to go out of state for their education, returning only to take their board exams. That began to change with the Academy 100, a grassroots society of dentists who raised funds and secured the legislative support necessary for the state’s first public dental college to take root in Gainesville.
UFCD’s inaugural cohort consisted of just 24 students — 22 men and two women — who took a leap of faith into an untested program.
“We were the first,” Benjamin said. “We were imperfect. We were experimental in more ways than one. But we helped start something that endured.”
Benjamin commented on the fitting symbolism of the Academy’s adopted logo, the acorn.
“Remember the acorn button we all got?” Benjamin asked the members of his class seated in the front row of the auditorium. “They said we were planting this acorn so it would grow if nurtured properly. Well, looking around today, I think we can safely say — it did.”
Despite the lack of tradition and a physical building that was still three years away, Benjamin credited the college’s early leaders for their foresight.
“The very first day, guess what we do? We meet the faculty,” Benjamin said. “Let me tell you, this was a visionary bunch of people.”
He recalled, specifically, the words of Founding Dean Jose Medina, D.D.S., during one of his first lectures. Medina deliberately set a collaborative tone, telling the small cohort, “Look to your right, now look to your left. These are not your competitors but your colleagues, and hopefully, your friends.”
All these years later, Benjamin confirmed: “They have been my friends for life.”
The message that stuck with Benjamin was one about the community that is inherent in the profession of dental medicine.
“Dentistry is not a lone profession,” he recalled Medina saying. “It is a family. You’re in a family of dentists. And that’s what stuck with me, for the rest of my life: I thought ‘I’m not alone in a solo practice; I’m part of a family.’”
DMD Class of 2026 President, Diana Rodriguez, acknowledged the reality of this community during her speech.
“Over these past four years, we became a family,” Rodriguez said. “We showed up for each other during the darkest times to lift one another up, and during the happiest moments to celebrate side by side.”
Much like Benjamin’s cohort navigating a brand-new program without a map, the DMD Class of 2026 bonded through shared challenges. Rodriguez reminded her classmates that they started their journey amid the uncertainty of a global pandemic.
“We applied to dental school during a pandemic not knowing what will happen and still crushed it,” Rodriguez said. “So as you walk out of here today, remember how much you’ve grown since then.”
Rodriguez’s parting advice to her newfound family mirrored the hard-won wisdom of the charter class: lean into the uncomfortable. While serving as class president proved to be one of the most demanding experiences of her life, Rodriguez said it shaped her into a better friend, leader and problem solver.
“Challenge yourself. Step outside your comfort zone,” Rodriguez urged. “If you’re nervous, do it nervous. If you’re worried, do it worried.”
The ceremony culminated in the conferring of degrees and the recitation of The Dentist’s Pledge, led by Florida Dental Association representative Reese Harrison, D.M.D., a double Gator and graduate of the UFCD Class of 1998.
Reflecting on his own journey since sitting in those exact seats, Harrison reminded the graduates of the profound responsibility and privilege that accompanies their new license.
“You are part of a 50-year tradition of excellence,” Harrison said. “You stand on the shoulders of those that came before you. And now you’ll guide the way for those who come next.”
He challenged the new cohort to see themselves as ambassadors of the college.
“You are leaving this UF College of Dentistry home, and you represent the UFCD name in all of your decisions and actions,” he said. “Make good choices and represent 50 years of Gator Dentists well.”
As these 159 graduates prepare to scatter across the state and country for private practice, residencies and military service, Garcia gave a final charge echoing the first commencement speech given to UFCD graduates.
Quoting Robert Kaplan, D.D.S., from the 1976 commencement, Garcia left the newly minted Gator Dentists with a timeless reminder of the weight that their new credentials hold.
“In a few minutes, something akin to magic is going to happen, and you won’t be the same person anymore,” she said. “It is not the difference created by the DMD degree… It is the difference to be made in your lives by achieving a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Florida.”