Contact: Jay Blanton

Jeffrey B. Dembo

Dembo’s service to UK includes four years as Academic Ombud, the longest term of any faculty to serve in that position. He also was elected to two terms as chair of the University Senate Council.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 11, 2005) -- Jeffrey B. Dembo, professor and vice chair of oral and maxillofacial surgery in the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, has been elected to a three-year term as a faculty representative on the UK Board of Trustees.

Dembo received 459 votes out of 749 cast by faculty during voting. He defeated incumbent board member, Michael Kennedy, an associate professor in geography.

Kennedy’s three-year term expires June 30. At that time, Dembo will join Roy Moore, professor in the College of Communications and Information Studies, as one of two faculty representatives on the Board of Trustees. Moore’s term runs until June 30, 2007.

“I am proud to have been elected by my faculty colleagues,” Dembo said. “This is only the fourth time in UK’s history that someone from a health professions college has been elected to the Board. This is an especially challenging time for the faculty, students and staff of UK. The Board’s decisions over the next year or two will help identify the path for our future. I look forward to being a participant in that process.”

“I look forward to working with Professor Jeff Dembo when he becomes a member of the Board of Trustees,” said UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. “I think it is very important that the faculty is well-represented on the board, and I know he will serve his fellow faculty members well.”

Dembo earned his bachelor’s degree in biology at University of Pennsylvania in 1976, his D.D.S from Northwestern University in 1981, and his specialty training in oral and maxillofacial surgery and his master’s Degree from the University of Iowa in 1984.

He joined the faculty of the UK College of Dentistry in 1987, with joint appointments in the departments of Anesthesiology and Surgery in the College of Medicine. Dembo has received the Teacher of the Year Award in his college twice.

Dembo’s service to UK includes four years as Academic Ombud, the longest term of any faculty to serve in that position. He also was elected to two terms as chair of the University Senate Council.