On March 26, 2007, a small group University of Southern California School of Dentistry students met with Dr. Alvin Rosenblum to discuss ethics issues and how they could become more proactive in promoting ethics at the USC School of Dentistry. What ensued was the first of several brainstorming sessions on what would eventually become the Student Professionalism and Ethics Club, otherwise known as SPEC. SPEC was named on May 2, 2007 and at the two following meetings a plan was laid out outlining the club's major goals. On June 7th, the thirteen SPEC members present, in conjunction with club advisor, Dr. Alvin Rosenblum, and co-advisors, Dr. Eugene Sekiguchi and Mrs. Diane Melrose, voted to accept the following mission statement:
The purpose of the Student Professionalism and Ethics Club (SPEC) is to increase the overall level of ethics and professionalism at the USC School of Dentistry. By uniting the community of students, faculty and staff of USCSD, SPEC will promote lifelong thought and action in the arena of dental ethics. Through various programs and associations, SPEC aims to foster an environment where ethical and professional behavior issues can be addressed in an open, unbiased forum. SPEC aims to further the ethical education at USCSD of every student and help achieve the development of ethical and professional behavior in the educational setting that will accompany the students throughout their professional career. SPEC also aims to form a student-centered committee, which will be available to mediate issues that may arise between students or between students and the school.
Through the formation of SPEC, we hope to form an environment that both attracts and molds the future leaders of dental ethics and to lead other dental schools along the same path towards preserving the integrity of our profession.
Following numerous subcommittee meetings, on July 26th there was a meeting of SPEC, At that meeting the above statement was incorporated as the "Purpose" in the organization's Constitution. On that day the bylaws were codified. Also at that meeting, there were discussions about a possible affiliation with ASDE, helping other chapters form at other schools, when to schedule a national symposium for dental students on ethics in dental education and when to start having guest speakers.
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