$1 million Carver Trust grant will modernize
UI dental research space

Posted November 14, 2008

IOWA CITY -- Research areas in the University of Iowa's Dental Science Building, home to the UI College of Dentistry, will undergo significant upgrades and modernization thanks to a $1 million grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, made to the University of Iowa Foundation.

"Improving the college's research area is crucial to facilitating innovative research, retaining leading researchers and enabling these scholars to do their best work," said David Johnsen, dean of the UI College of Dentistry. "It also is vital for recruiting new research faculty, since the college must be able to offer adequate and appropriately equipped laboratory space for incoming investigators.

"We are deeply grateful to the Carver Trust for its generous support of this essential project," Johnsen added. "Our partnership with the Trust helps us advance oral biomedical research at Iowa, and this grant also is a catalyst for our college to continue to compete with the very best as a national leader in dental research."

Clark Stanford, the college's dean for research, said that since the construction of the UI Dental Science Building in 1973, the field of oral biomedical research has changed significantly with the growth of cellular, molecular, genetic and proteomic technologies. He noted that the Dental Science Building's research area needs laboratories that support these new methods, which are now an intrinsic part of contemporary biomedical research.

Stanford added that the $1 million grant from the Carver Trust will allow the college to develop state-of-the-art laboratory facilities for two key research programs that Johnsen said are poised to pursue significant new directions: the Molecular Craniofacial Anomalies Research Program; and the Biomaterials, Bone and Tissue Engineering Research Program.

In February 2008, the Iowa Board of Regents approved the college's request to select an architectural firm so it could proceed with planning for a renovation of the 35-year-old Dental Science Building. The multi-year renovation project costs are currently estimated at $45 million, with at least $10 million of that to come from gifts from alumni and friends. The renovations will transform the building by updating and expanding clinical areas, increasing classroom and student space and upgrading dental research facilities. The college's general and specialty dental care clinics receive about 125,000 patient visits each year.

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust is the largest private philanthropic foundation in the state of Iowa. It was created through the will of Roy J. Carver, a Muscatine industrialist and philanthropist, who died in 1981.

The UI acknowledges the UI Foundation as the preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the UI Foundation, visit its web site at www.uiowafoundation.org.

Contact Information

Susan Shullaw
Senior Vice President, Strategic Communications
The University of Iowa Foundation
(319) 335-3305 or (800) 648-6973 | susan-shullaw@uiowa.edu

Writer: Forrest Meyer

Additional information about supporting The University of Iowa College of Dentistry is available on this site.