Welcome to the Faculty Resources webpage. This site serves as a one-stop shop for dental faculty, offering a list of resources on a wide range of topics to support your teaching, research, and professional development.

For programs offered by the school that provide CDE credits, participants need to register here prior to the start of the program. 

 

School Programs
  • New Faculty Orientation: A presentation is given to new faculty that covers a wide range of information: administration, absences, clinical protocols. A new faculty information folder is shared via the Pac Manual Guidebook. They are given a tour and introduced to the faculty they will work with. A mentor is assigned for shadowing. They also receive their ID badges and set up their email etc.
  • Cross Training: Held every quarter. Each week has a topic or subject and the presentation or hands-on events occurs each day of the week in an effort to reach all faculty. Week 3 of each quarter is faculty orientation week and week 10 is Grading week. These are not included in faculty cross training. Schedules are emailed to your Pacific email address and posted in 4F area.
  • Dean's Speakers Series: The purpose of the Dean's Speaker Series is to increase the knowledge, skills, behavior and attitudes of our faculty, staff, students and alumni as it relates to an understanding of what is happening more broadly in health care, oral health care and education.  
  • Faculty Development Day: Faculty Development Day is a regularly scheduled quarterly event dedicated to the development of the dental faculty in areas of biomedical, research, clinical, trends in the industry as well as critical thinking. It occurs on Tuesday of final examination week.
  • Biomedical Science Seminars: The seminars cover a wide range of topics in basic science and their application in dentistry. Scheduled are emailed to your Pacific address.
  • Peer observation of teaching (POT): POT focuses on the strengths of the faculty member being observed, as well as on those areas that could be enhanced. Our primary goal is to provide formative feedback to support your teaching. 
  • Annual Teaching Showcase: This program provides a low-risk platform for faculty to demonstrate innovative instructional practices and exchange ideas. 
  • Multi-institutional Dental Education Exchange (DEE): Dental Education Exchange (DEE) is a multi-institutional online discussion group designed to strengthen our understanding of important issues in dental education and to collaborate with our colleagues in developing our skills as dental educators. Five dental schools joined to form the Dental Education Exchange, with one participating institution hosting a virtual (Zoom) session by providing the session topic, readings/viewings, and in leading discussion. This is a great opportunity to learn with and from colleagues at other dental schools. Participating schools: University of Illinois-Chicago; University of Pittsburgh; Rutgers University; University of the Pacific; Boston University.
  • Teaching & Assessment in Health Professions Education: This blended course, formerly the Course Director Orientation, is open to all Pacific Dugoni faculty. The course focused on evidence-based learning design and assessment principles.
  • Lunch and Learn Seminars: This program consists of a series of one hour seminars offered during lunch time.  The focus is on active learning and emergent pedagogies associated with emerging technologies. Schedules are emailed to your Pacific email address.
  • Other program offerings: Please watch out for email announcements.
University Programs

Conferences

Dental education

Dentistry and science

General education

Seminars, webinars, and workshops

General Teaching Resources 

Dugoni school templates and checklists 

These resources were developed in-house at the Dugoni School to help faculty with course planning and design.

  • Course director 101 (video): This 8-minute animated video provides a brief overview of the course planning process. While the video will be most helpful for new course directors, more experienced course directors can also use it as a refresher. [A few minor updates: 2024]:
    • Night clinics are from 6:00 - 8: 30 pm. 
    • Week 11: 1 instructional day (Mon) + 1 study day (Tue) + 3 days of final exams (Wed-Fri).
  • Introducing your course to students on Day 1 (video): Check out this video to see how our own Dr. Gitta Radjaeipour introduced her preclinical course to new D1 students on the first day of class. Dr. Radjaeipour's course introduction was clear, transparent, and tied nicely to comprehensive patient care.
  • Dugoni syllabus template (word): The template specifies the major sections and information that should be included in a course syllabus. It was updated in January 2024 to include a sample generative AI course policy and the APA format for citing generative AI tools.
  • Dugoni Canvas template (website): The template specifies the minimum tools that need to be activated on a Canvas site. It was approved by the dental school's Curriculum Committee. Several examples of module organization are also provided. Click the link to self enroll on the Canvas template site (Pacific credentials required)
  • Dugoni Canvas site and syllabus checklist (word): This rubric is for department chair or vice chair use in reviewing Canvas sites and syllabi. All Canvas sites and syllabi need to be approved by the department chair before publishing.

Learning Objectives

Educational Alignment 

Backward Design

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Copyright and Fair Use

  • Copyright basics: A guide on copyright and fair use for Pacific faculty developed by Pacific librarians.
  • Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a non-profit organization which has developed and provided a set of public copyright licenses for authors to use when sharing their work with others.

Other resources

Please reach out to Dr. Sinky Zheng (szheng@pacific.edu) for any additional resources. 

Question tagging 

Item writing 

Item analysis

Assessment techniques

Formative assessment

Feedback giving

Rubrics

 

Educational technology

Below is a list of available and/or recommended tools for teaching and learning. Contact Meixun Sinky Zheng, PhD, Office of Academic Affairs, for consultation.

(Note: * indicates that the Dugoni School has a license. Also be aware that some links are only available to the University of the Pacific community.)

San Francisco software applications

List of software and applications available on the San Francisco Campus (login required).
Contact Raybel Ramos, Associate Dean for Information Technology, for details.

University software applications

List of software and applications (design, reference management, statistics packages, and others) available at the university (login required).
Contact Raybel Ramos, Associate Dean for Information Technology, for details.

The CUBE of the university

The CUBE, a technology-rich collaborative space in the university library, works with faculty, staff, and students to develop digital tools for teaching, learning, and research (e.g., 3D printing, AR, VR, drones, multimedia production). Contact: cube@pacific.edu

This page features resources to help you effectively leverage generative AI for academic purposes such as teaching, learning, research, and daily administrative work. In addition, we also provide professional development sessions tailored to these themes. 

GenAI Tools

(Note: * Indicates that Pacific has an institutional license.)

  • Co-pilot*: MicroSoft's chatbot; log in with Pacific credentials.
  • ChatGPT: Chat, upload files, and perform data analysis.
  • Claude.AI: Chat and upload files. 
  • ChatPDF: Upload pdf and ask questions about the content. 
  • Synthesia: Create videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. 
  • Heygen: Create videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. 
  • Canva AI: AI-powered tool for creating flyers, images, and various graphics. 
  • NotebookLM: Personalized AI research assistant powered by Google's Gemini AI model. It can summarize documents, answer questions about them, and host interactive discussions with two AI hosts. Free.

More AI tools

  • AI Xploria provides a full list of AI tools by category to explore. The list is updated regularly. 

 

GenAI Guidelines

Generative AI (GenAI) tools can be valuable resources for teaching, learning, research, and administrative work. However, their use requires adherence to institutional guidelines and compliance with ethical standards. These guidelines are designed to support the Pacific Dugoni community in using GenAI tools responsibly and safely.

Data Security and Compliance

Public access restriction

  • Do not enter any content into GenAI tools unless it is intended for public access.
    • Examples: Content created by others such as student assignment submissions or materials authored by others rather than yourself.
  • Risks of non-compliance: Content entered into GenAI tools may be exposed to third parties that are not authorized to access or use it. Sharing such content on GenAI platforms might infringe on copyright regulations and pose legal risks.

FERPA compliance

  • Do not input any student data into GenAI tools that violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
  • Examples: Personally identifiable information from student records, such as names and grades.

HIPAA compliance

  • Do not input any data into GenAI tools that violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
  • Examples: Protected Health Information such as patient names, medical records, or any data that could identify an individual.

For Teaching and Learning

Faculty 

  • You have the autonomy to create course-specific guidelines. These guidelines may include:
    • Prohibited use: GenAI tools are not allowed for any assignments.
    • Conditional use: GenAI tools may be used under certain circumstances, such as brainstorming or drafting, provided proper citation is included.
    • Fully allowed use: GenAI tools may be permitted for all assignments, provided the student acknowledges their use appropriately.
  • Each syllabus must include a statement about the policy on GenAI use specific to that course.

Students 

  • Be aware that GenAI use policies may vary by course. Read the course syllabus carefully to understand the permitted use of GenAI tools for assignments or other academic work.
  • Use GenAI as a learning aid rather than as a short cut.

For Research 

  • Be aware that GenAI tools could provide inaccurate references or fabricate nonexistent research citations. 
  • Verify that the use of GenAI aligns with the journal or publisher's guidelines. This includes proper citation and compliance with any restrictions on the use of AI-generated content (e.g., text and images) in your submission. 
  • Data security: Refer to the earlier section on Data Security and Compliance.

 

 

  • ADEA teaching resources: resources on teaching, learning, assessment, competency-based education, and more. It includes MedEdPORTAL, a peer-reviewed publication with downloadable multimedia resources.
  • ADEA eLearn: Live and on-demand learning resources on a variety of important topics impacting dental education.
  • Educause: a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing higher education through technology integration.
  • Chronicle of Higher Education: a leader in higher education journalism that provides news, advice, and insights to succeed in a rapidly changing educational landscape.
  • Online Learning Consortium (OLC): a leading organization dedicated to the advancement of digital and online learning.

Instructional Approaches

Below are practical tips, best practices, and sample lessons organized by instructional approaches/context.

Gameplay is a great way to engage this generation of students. Below are a few free web tools to create game-based learning.

  • Jeopardylabs Web-based jeopardy game that doesn't need a PowerPoint slide template. It has free and paid versions.
  • Hot Potato Create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, crossword, matching/ordering and flll in the gap activities. It is free.
  • Quizlet Search for and create your own flash cards and games. It is free.

Data and Support

Educational and other outcome data and support that you can request for teaching, research, and administrative purposes.

Institutional Outcome Data

Pacific Dugoni's Outcomes Team maintains various types of institutional outcome data, including clinical data. For more information, contact the following individuals:

 

Educational Assessment Data

Below are examples of educational data maintained by Office of Academic Affairs that you can request for teaching, scholarship, and administrative purposes. There may be other data that you don't see here. Please do not hesitate to reach out — we might be able to work with you to access it.

Educational data support: From idea generation to data acquisition, data analysis (including statistics), data visualization, and reporting, we provide support to help you translate data insights into actions. Contact: 

Curriculum
  • Curriculum mapping reports
  • Enrichment program outcomes
Instruction
  • Student Rating of Instruction (SRI)
  • Peer Observation of Teaching 
Learning
  • ExamSoft longitudinal reports
  • Course grades (and distribution)
  • Integrated National Board Dental Exam (INBDE)
  • ADEX (Dr. Homer Asadi, Interim clinical associate dean)
  • Competency assessment (Dr. Homer Asadi, Interim clinical associate dean)
  • ADA Survey of Dental School Seniors
  • Alumni survey: perceived preparedness in essential competency areas.
Platform analytics

Many of the learning technology platforms we use provide program, course, and student level usage data.

Research & Scholarship

For support in traslational and clinical research, contact the following individuals.

Dr. David Ojcius (dojcius@pacific.edu)

Assistant Provost for Research

 Dr. Ojcius is Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Pacific Dugoni. He gained his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked for thirteen years at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. His research interests include viruses and intracellular bacteria, interactions with the innate immune system, microbiota, biochemistry and cell biology of infected cells, inflammation and aging. He is also editor in chief for Current Research in Microbial Sciences and consulting editor for the Cell Press journal, iScience.

Dr. Tamer Alpagot (talpagot@pacific.edu)
Director of Translational Research

Dr. Alpagot graduated from Ege University School of Dentistry, Izmir-Turkey in 1983, and then completed a PhD program in Periodontics at Hacettepe University, Ankara-Turkey in 1986 followed by a completion of a PhD program in Oral Biology at the University of Minnesota in 1995. He joined University of the Pacific in 1996. Since then, he has been able to receive internal grants as well as three grants from NIDCR / NIH.  He became the Director of Translational Research at Dugoni School of Dentistry in 2019.  His research area focuses on the etiology of periodontal disease, identification of prognostic factors for chronic periodontitis, and development of treatment strategies. 

Dr. Alpagot can provide the following services to faculty and students in the School of Dentistry:

  • Facilitate clinical and translational research
  • Guidance for preparation of grant applications and research proposals (internal and external funding opportunities)
  • Training required to conduct clinical research
  • Assistance collecting clinical samples for research
  • Guidance for preparation of IRB applications

For support on educational research and scholarship of teaching and learning, contact: 

Dr. Meixun Sinky Zheng (szheng@pacific.edu)

Director of Educational Innovation and Assessment

Dr. Zheng can provide support for the life cycle of educational research and scholarship of teaching and learning, from idea generation to data collection, data analysis, and presentation and manuscript development. 

Educational Poster Template

Click here to access a template for educational research posters. It is focused on the organization, content, and key points to be covered in each section. Note: You might modify the colors to match the look and feel of the Dugoni School themed template above. 

Educational Manuscript Template

Click here to access a template for educational research manuscripts. It provides a high-level structure for publishing original research, key points to be covered in each section, and tips on how to present research findings. 

Other Resources

Design & Photo Poster Template

In an effort to ensure that all research posters produced at the Dugoni School have a standard, cohesive, branded look that identifies the work with the dental school, the Design and Photo Services Department has created two poster templates (one horizontal, one vertical) available for download here (Login with Pacific credentials required). Contact the Design and Photo Department. 

Publish Open Access for Free

Pacific has access to agreements with Elsevier, Wiley, Springer Nature, and ACS Publications to allow Pacific corresponding authors to publish Open Access in many of their journals for free. Visit the library's Research Support Guide to view the list of journals covered.

Selected Journals

Dental and Medical Education Journals

Basic Science Education Journals

General Educational Research Journals

Other Journals

Pacific Journal of Health

The Pacific Journal of Health is a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of the Pacific.  It publishes articles in all fields of health, including dentistry. The journal is open access (free for all readers). But unlike most open access journals, it is also free for all authors. Editor-in-chief: Dr. David Ojcius, Assistant Provost for Research (dojcius@pacific.edu).

 

Internal funding

University funding
A variety of grants to support faculty teaching, research, and professional development. (University network login required). Contact: Dr. David Ojcius (Assistant Provost for Research) at dojcius@pacific.edu

Research pilot grants
The grants support all types of research, including basic science, dental/clinical, and educational research. (University network login required) Contact: Dr. Cassio Silva (Research Committee Chair) at csilva2@pacific.edu; or Harmony Matshik Dakafay (Research Committee Coordinator) at hmatshikdakafay@pacific.edu.

Byron J. Thayer Fund
Funds may be used to support a variety of programs and projects for the School of Dentistry. Please contact Eve Cuny at ecuny@pacific.edu for more information.

External funding

Dugoni Faculty Research Resources

Resources on grants, grant support, shared instruments and facilities, links to IRB Office and more.

Research Support Guide (Library)

The university library's research support guide webpage has information on citation management (e.g., RefWorks), finding and choosing journals, publishing open access for free, and more.

IRB Resources

Follow steps below to submit your IRB application.

University IRB office: irb@pacific.edu

This section features research highlights and publications by the dental school faculty, staff, and students. Contact: Dr. David Ojcius, Assistant Provost for Research, at dojcius@pacific.edu.

Other Resources

General resources

Dossier management support

Student rating of instruction

For questions, contact Office of Academic Affairs: Karinne Patchett (kpatchett@pacific.edu); Dr. Meixun Sinky Zheng (szheng@pacific.edu)

Peer observation of teaching

For questions, contact Dr. Meixun Sinky Zheng (szheng@pacific.edu).

  • Guidelines
  • Peer observation forms
  • Calibrated peer observers: Professor Lory Laughter, Mustafa Radif, Drs. Homayon Asadi, Alan Gluskin, Terry Hoover, Gene LaBarre, Bill Lundergan, Bernadette Fa, David Ojcius, Mike Suh, Bina Surti, Parvati Iyer, Paul Subar, Rebecca Moazzez.
  • Interested in serving as a peer observer? Please reach out to your department chair and/or Dr. Meixun Sinky Zheng. 

Promotion and tenure eligibility and review

Contact Dr. Didem Ozdemir Ozenen, Associate Dean for Oral Health Education, at  dozdemirozenen@pacific.edu.