Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery - Dental Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Throughout your years at Columbia you have also come to realize that this training has been one of quality and excellence. How you develop from here on is entirely up to you. If you rest upon your training, you will probably become enslaved in a dental prac- tice with perhaps adequate monerary compensation but lacking in inspiration and satisfaction to you. However, if you not only uphold the high standards that have been set for you but continually strive to improve them through continuing education, then your life, your school, your profession, and society as a whole will benefit immeasurably. Remember always, the close bond that should exist between Columbia and her alumni — they are and will be judged together. The School will be only as good as her graduates, and the graduates will stand on the reputation of the School. It is our sincere desire that this bond be maintained by all of you through active participation in the affairs of the alumni and of the Dental School. To the Class of ' 61, on behalf of everyone asso- ciated with Columbia, we extend our best wishes and a hope that your future will be happy, rewarding and full of progress! Dr. Gilbert P. Smith DR. GILBERT P. SMITH, D.D.S. Prof, of Dentistry Dean of Faculty Director, Division of Restorative Dentistry

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GRAYSON KIRK, Ph.D., LLD. President of the University ADMINISTRATION To the members of the Class of 1961, my sincere congratulations upon the passing of an important milestone in your professional lives! It has not been an easy road for any of you and the degree for which you have strived has been hard won and well earned. The selection of Continuing Education in Den- tistry as your yearbook ' s central theme is appropriate and well timed in this day and age when changes in all aspects of dentistry are o ccurring so rapidly that the very thought of trying to keep abreast is stagger- ing. That you recognize the necessity of continued learning, not only through experience but also through more formal methods, points to your understanding of the responsibilities of the professional man. During your four years in the Dental School you have worked diligently and each one of you has sacrificed a great deal to achieve your goal. You have acquired a strong foundation of ideals and an understanding of con- temporary methods upon which your professional career will be built. If there is a student who feels that he has learned enough in his undergraduate years of dental education to conduct a practice which is both awarding to him and in which his patients can place their utmost trust and confidence, he is a rarity. On the other hand, most of you realize that the training you have rece ived at Columbia has not only provided the basic tools of your profession but has also given to you an acute awareness of how much more there is to learn, and we hope it has created a desire in you to continue your education through every means avail- able.

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PREFACE q JOSEPH C. DE LISI Ass ' t Clinical Prof, of Dentistry Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Matthew, Chap. 7 The graduating class has selected for the theme of their Dental Columbian 1961, Continuing Education in Dentistry. This concept, like the season of spring, is not new, but warmly welcomed. The faculty looks proudly and hopefully to the graduates. We have planted a seed in each of you. We have cultivated you and provided an environment favorable to growth. This has been a labor of love and sacrifice. Your faculty looks upon you now, not as the fruits of our labor (or your labor) — but as the buds. The fruits will come after the buds have blossomed. Your awareness of this need to continue your educa- tion is the distinguishing characteristic in the analogy between you, the budding dentist and the budding tree. It is such awareness that distinguishes mankind from the other biological wonders insofar as it implies pur- pose, intelligence, a sense of responsibility — and a con- science. Man ' s actions, yours and mine, do not go un- noticed. They may be subject to praise or blame, freedom or restrictions. In this great country of ours, we talk of freedom to think and say and do things. In fact, we are guaranteed these rights. However, we correctly rec- ognize the limitations and restraints on the freedom of some of our actions. This regulation we accept because it can be argued that the principles of anarchy and totalitarianism can best be served when mankind has 100% pure freedom. Consider for example, such state- ments as I am a free man, subject to no one ' s authority. I shall do as I please and no authority exists to stop me. There is no law — I am the law. Or perhaps, I want this nation and its wealth; I shall take it! Or even closer to home, I want this education, this degree or this specialty for what it can do for me. The pages of his- tory condemn this type of thinking and the usual suffer- ing and enslavemenr that invariably follows. Such in- dividuals are selfish. They take far more than they intend to give. They are usually irresponsible and do nothing to enhance the true dignity of man. Though freedom and justice, on occasion, can be dis- torted to work in opposite directions, certainly in the broad sense we know that liberty and justice for all are happy partners in our democracy. So too, may edu- cation and morality be either frustrating to each other or supplementary. We may seek to further our educa- tion, our knowledge and our skills, because it is our responsibility to do so — or we may do so, like Nietzsche, motivated by the ultimate goal of personal power. Is it because we want to take or because we are going to give? And so to the graduating class: We are grateful to you for your serious thoughts on continuing your edu- cation. We ask you to examine your motives and your responsibilities. We hope you will find the practice of dentistry a rewarding one both materially and spirit- ually. As President Kennedy said in concluding his inaugural address, With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessings and His help, but knowing that here on earth God ' s work must truly be our own. Joseph C. De Lisi, D.D.S. Faculty Advisor