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Dr. Thomas Sollecito Receives University's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching

April 20, 2006

Dr. Thomas Sollecito, Associate Professor/Clinician Educator of Oral Medicine and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Penn Dental Medicine, has been recognized for his excellence in teaching as one of the recipients of the 2005-2006 Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Awards for Distinguished Teaching. The University of Pennsylvania presents the awards annually to eight faculty members – four within the health schools and four within the non-health schools. This year's award winners were recognized at a University-wide reception, held April 20, 2006.

Dr. Sollecito joined the Penn Dental Medicine faculty in 1993 as an Assistant Professor/Clinician Educator of Oral Medicine, and has held his current position as Associate Professor/Clinician Educator since 2003. During his time with Penn Dental Medicine, he has also served as Director (1998 – 2003) and Associate Director (1993 – 1998) of the Oral Medicine Residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Director of Hospital Dental Education for the Oral Medicine Service at HUP (1993 – 2002), and Director of Penn Dental Medicine's Oral Medicine Clinic (2001 - 2004). From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Sollecito was also Chief of Penn Dental Medicine's Oral Medicine Service. Dr. Sollecito's teaching has been multifaceted, including not only work in the classroom but also in the clinic, operating room, and grand rounds.

"Dr. Sollecito has proven a dynamic teacher, with the ability to not only change the way students and residents view a particular subject, but more important to energize them and motivate them to learn it with an unparalleled zeal," read one of the award recommendations.

Award winners are determined by recommendations and nominations made by faculty and students in December of each year. Two separate committees, one for the health schools and another for the non-health schools, consisting of previous award winners as well as students, select the winners from the nominees. The Lindback Awards for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania were established in 1961 with the help of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation. Christian Lindback was president and principal of Abbotts Dairies, Inc., and the Foundation established the awards at colleges and universities throughout Abbotts Dairies, Inc.'s service area in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.