 On behalf of the 7,500 members of the American College of Dentists who helped the college realize its myriad missions, I'd like to present a brief history of the American College of Dentists. The American College of Dentists was founded in 1920 to promote the highest ideals in the dental profession. The trade status and commercialism of a hundred years ago were addressed by attention to education and exemplary practice and were recognized by fellowship in the college. Over time, the college advanced its mission through driving commercialism out of journalism, working to promote high and common educational standards, attention to research and to policy issues of the profession, and more recently, working to raise the ethical standards of dentistry. Although the strategic focus of the college has shifted with the changing challenges confronting the growing profession of dentistry, its mission to promote the best in dentistry has never changed. Fortunately, individuals electing to enter the dental profession are generally professionally minded. They're professionally minded dentists and leaders whose primary focus is to serve as the profession and the public. In the early days of dental practice in the United States, a small group of such dentists, four to be exact, became deeply concerned about the problems facing dentistry. They quietly resolved to deliberately act on those concerns. They recognized the need for a new entity that could guide dentistry through the crises they saw. The Flexner Report in 1910 had incited all the professions to engage in greater responsibility in their respective arenas. The founding dentist knowledgeable of the Flexner Report and aware that the Dental Education Council was setting standards for the classification of dental schools acknowledged that vocational training was no longer sufficient for the student of dentistry. They believed that a broader knowledge of the basic sciences was not only necessary but also desirable to underwrite the professional status they desired. They witnessed dental research coming into its own, the Journal of Dental Research having been founded in 1919. But they saw both of these efforts, education and research, dominated and directed by rapid commercialism. This small group of men concerned about the direction of dentistry could go if left to commercial interest, they saw a need for a strong organization with the highest ideals, an organization of dentists to support and advance the profession of dentistry. The type of organization they envisioned would be very similar to the Royal College of Surgeons of Great Britain. Their founding ideals were simple. It was in the early spring of 1920 that these four dentists met for dinner to discuss their concerns. Now this was not an accidental encounter. This was a deliberate engagement strategy by the leaders in dentistry. In attendance were John Considt, the President of the National Dental Association, presently the American Dental Association, H. Edmund Fressel from Pennsylvania, the President-elect of the National Dental Association, Otto Ulysses King from Illinois, the Secretary of the National Dental Association, and Arthur Davenport Black, son of G. V. Black and President of the Teachers Association, presently a forerunner of the American Dental Education Association. They came to the conclusion that they should seek the cooperation of additional dental leaders, and they invited 23 dentists from across the country to the next meeting of the National Dental Association in Boston, Massachusetts, which was scheduled for August 20, 1920 at the Coplay Plaza Hotel. Fourteen of the 23 invitees were in attendance when this meeting was called to order. Those who could not attend the inaugural meeting sent messages of support for their concept and best wishes on the development of the college. Discussion at the meeting resulted in a concept of an organization, a college with a purpose of strengthening dentistry's transition from a trade to a profession. The founders had a clear vision for the college, the enormously increased responsibility of the dental profession to humanity on the one hand, and the unprecedented opportunities for exportation, which have resulted in a wave of mercenary practices that threatened to become a public scandal to the everlasting disgrace of American dentistry, on the other hand. Demand that these elements of the profession, whose character, reputation, and professional attainments point them out as leaders should be brought together for the purposes of checking the tide of destructive agencies and encouraging by every laudable means the cultivation of that high spirit of the professional and social responsibility, the wholesome influence of which was so greatly needed. It was a desire of those dental leaders in attendance to create an organization that would encourage practitioners to continue their studies through postgraduate education, encourage students to aspire to higher ideals in the practice of their profession, and recognize contributions made by individuals toward the advancement of the profession, free from political pressures and friendly influences. The founding of the American College of Surgeons in 1912 provided a structural framework for the proposed concept. The Copley hotel attendees worked diligently to create an organization and an organizational structure for dentistry that would be devoted to the betterment of the profession. The organization they proposed became the American College of Dentists. Now that the founders had agreed upon the concept, they began the myriad tasks necessary for the college to function. It was the desire of the founders to ensure that the organizational fabric of the college preserved all of the distinctions of an altruistic attempt to carry dentistry and its service to humanity to greater heights and create a professional environment here to for unrealized. Bylaws had to be drafted, officers had to be elected, membership criteria had to be agreed upon, and the mission had to be spread to the broader dental community. The inaugural meeting minutes summed up the intent as follows. The American College of Dentists was not organized with any ulterior motive, but merely with the idea that it shall provide one more means of promoting advancement in dentistry and adding attractiveness to the study and application for dentistry. The founders identified the following principles and must. The organization must have aims of the highest order. Principles must be strictly adhered with no wavering to accommodate individuals. The organization must be independent of all other organizations, and there must be no political influences. Membership must be by invitation, not by application, and secrecy must be maintained in considering nominations. The person serving in the review committee must not be known and should be fully supported. For the first decade of its existence, the leadership of the college worked to define and refine the foundational tenets of the organization and to establish the modus operandi. During the formative years of the college, the survey of dental education was undertaken by William John Guise for the Carnegie Foundation, otherwise known as Bulleted 19, or commonly referred to as the Guise Report. Guise was the assistant secretary of the college and the founding editor of the Journal of the American College of Dentist. This seminal work became a forum for discussions related to dental education and other emerging concerns. By the 1930s, committees were appointed to study a number of issues that needed to be addressed. A major report of the American College of Dentist led to the commission on journalism, which resulted in the formation of the American Association of Dental Editors and the establishment of the Journal of the American College of Dentist in 1934. That same year, dentistry was officially acknowledged by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of the efforts of the American College of Dentist. In the post-war haze of the 1940s and 50s, research activities began to develop and the college played a vital role through its committee on research and supplying grants and aid for the continuation of such studies as well as emergency and travel funds to empower the effort. International relations were promoted through congresses held in Cologne, Germany in 1962 and in Paris in 1967. The 1970s saw a relocation of the executive office from St. Louis, Missouri to the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area as to become visible to those agencies and organizations which have new interest in dentistry such as government, labor, national associations for education, research and industry. In the 1980s, the college appointed a second committee to study the methods by which the college could promote teaching of ethics in dental schools. This impaneled committee recommended and the Board of Regents approved the following resolution. Resolve that the American College of Dentist recommend to the Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association that they consider the establishment of standards for the teaching of professional ethics in the dental schools in the United States. As a result of that action of the college, two educational imperatives were realized. First, the Commission on Dental Accreditation approved the addition of two standards to the existing accreditation standards for dental school programs. Secondly, the ADA Council on Dental Education forwarded a written request to the American Association of Dental Schools, now ADIA, requesting that the American Association of Dental Schools consider developing a separate set of instructional guidelines on professionalism and ethics and dentistry to assist dental schools in preparing to strengthen the instruction in this area. By the dawn of the 21st century, major changes in the delivery and financing of oral health care, both internally external forces, created a clear and present danger with regard to both the standards of oral health care as well as the organizational ethics that are the foundation of the delivery of that care. Moreover, we are simultaneously facing major challenges in dental education. If dental education wants to sustain educating dentists capable of answering continuous, increasing health care needs of population they serve, then these institutions must be willing to accept the necessity of modifying instructional processes in favor of a student autonomy and adequately preparing students to manage the knowledge explosion. This new approach should guide schools in determining the undergraduate program content and objectives and in favoring learning processes centered on students and oriented toward the community needs of the public we serve. Clearly, there is much to be done and the college is poised to act on the concerns that this century, our second century of service will inevitably bring to bear. Nearly 100 years ago, the American College of Dentists came into being with a primary aims to cultivate and encourage a higher type of professional spirit and a broader sense of social responsibility to encourage and promote professional conduct and to acknowledge such through fellowship in the college. Today, the American College of Dentists founding principles of elevating the standards of dentistry through a thousand acts of professionalism and personal commitment will allow us to remain the conscience of dentistry as we engage the challenges and issues of our time. Thank you very much.