In August, former Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs Mark Gonthier was appointed Executive Associate Dean of the School of Dental Medicine. As EAD, Gonthier serves as the school's chief operating officer and as a senior-level ambassador for the school and university, among other duties. Here he talks candidly about the issues at the forefront of his EAD agenda, what he's bringing with him from the front lines of admissions, and what keeps him running.

What are you most looking forward to undertaking in your new role?

After 25 years at Tufts, with the last 21 being at the Dental School, it's been thought that I've done a good job of creating a positive environment for students, of making students feel supported as they're working towards their professional goals and aspirations. I hope to extend that ability to create and sustain that environment in the same ways with the school's faculty and staff as we move forward in creating and embracing a strategic plan that will bring the school to the next higher level of achievement on a national stage.

Primary on my list of to do's is supporting the new dean and his success at our school in the tradition of the deans that have preceded him. Dean Thomas has come here from three distinguished public universities and is now working at a great private university. My goal is to provide a strong "glove that fits the hand" feel with the institution to facilitate his success.

It's exciting to have a new dean on board-and healthy. He has initiated a dialogue about our aspirations for the future, while remaining closely aligned to our strengths in preparing students to be adroit and well-educated clinicians. Dean Thomas has outlined future possibilities thoughtfully, but has made clear his interest in focusing on interprofessionalism and addressing the needs of the underserved from, variously, research, training, public health, and clinical care perspectives.

Over the past 25 years, what have you enjoyed most about working with the dental community?

It's pretty emblematic of Tufts in general that for all its complexity and aspiration to be the best in field academically and in the research and community service arenas, Tufts treats each person as an individual. And by that I mean that if you're willing to work really hard and make the most of the opportunities given to you, you can really make a difference and be given a chance to succeed on an even larger playing field. I really do believe that that has been the story of my relationship with the university, a story common to many: the university invests in its people and gives them a chance to grow and succeed.

Are there any specific stories that spring to mind when you think about that investment?

There are many stories but this is one that comes to mind right away. In the mid-90s, I hired some student workers for the office because we had a backlog of paperwork. One of the student workers went home over Christmas break to Connecticut and during that time a brochure for a one-year clinical research training fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) came across my desk. Everyone was on vacation, but I thought of this student, based on some casual conversations. I put a yellow sticky on it and wrote, "You may want to think about this. The deadline is right after the holidays," and mailed it to his parent's home. (This was before email and the internet were part and parcel of our communications arsenal.) He came back, we worked on the application, he was accepted for the fellowship, and participated in the NIH fellowship during the following year. This experience inspired him to pursue Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He was later accepted to the six-year M.D. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery program at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital-a very selective program-and completed the six years of training. He now teaches at MGH, works in private practice, and comes back every year to talk to our students about the benefits of the NIH fellowship program.

The reason l really enjoy telling this story is that this career success all started with him being open to the message and us working together to create unscripted outcomes from a casual review of an informational mailer that landed on my desk during the quiet holiday season. We take very good students and make them great students and graduates.

It's pretty well known that you're an avid runner. What keeps you going?

Stress! I started running in college while working on my junior qualifying examination. It was a lot of stress and you had to be on your game. By golly, those endorphins made me able to do whatever I wanted and needed to do. In some regards, I've been pushed to run. It's always motivated me to keep going and set goals. It's been great to be at Tufts, because I occasionally run with the students. We have the largest college/university chapter in Boston participating in the Susan G. Komen breast cancer run each year-and there about 100 schools that participate. We even have faculty in their 70s who run! It's a nice, diverse, community event that we all do together and the experience builds school morale.