Distinguished Alumni Award

Eva C. Dahl, 73BA, 76DDS, 79MA, 82MS, one of the first trailblazers for women in the field of dentistry at the University of Iowa, has never forgotten the institution that set the course for her life.

Dahl entered the UI with advanced placement credits as a general science major, completed two years of undergraduate studies, and earned a B.A. degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences one year after she started the dentistry program. Despite her demanding studies, she quickly became involved in many aspects of university life, representing the College of Dentistry in student government and chairing both the Iowa Memorial Union and Student Health Services advisory committees. For her exceptional efforts, she earned a Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, given to the university's most outstanding students. One of only four women in the College of Dentistry when she first enrolled, Dahl graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1976.

After a one-year residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, Dahl returned to the UI to complete a certificate in oral pathology, an M.A. degree in instructional design and technology, an M.S. degree in oral pathology, and a certificate in endodontics.

Although Dahl moved to Wisconsin in 1982, where she established a highly successful endodontics practice, she maintained a strong commitment to the University of Iowa. In addition to returning as an adjunct professor of dentistry and co-chairing the simulation clinic campaign in 1997, she was a member of the UI Alumni Association board of directors from 1997 to 2004, serving as chair from June 2002 to June 2003. Currently a member of the Dental Alumni Association board, she also serves on the UI Foundation board of directors and sits on a steering committee that oversees the College of Dentistry's emerging fund-raising effort to renovate and expand the Dental Sciences Building.

Dahl's exemplary philanthropic support for the UI includes contributing for 26 years to the College of Dentistry and the UI Alumni Association and establishing a major bequest for the college in her estate plans.

Highly regarded in her profession, Dahl has also served on many state and national professional dental associations, including the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Dental Education and two Councils of the American Dental Association. Past president of the American Association of Women Dentists, she was the first woman to serve on the American Association of Endodontists board of directors and she recently completed a term as president of the Wisconsin Dental Association.

Dahl's exceptional career has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Outstanding Young Woman of America Award in 1981 from Outstanding Young Americans; the 1997 Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award from the American Association of Women Dentists; the 2001 President's Service Award from the Wisconsin Dental Association; and fellowship in the International College of Dentists and American College of Dentists. In 2001, she was honored with the Alumnus of the Year Award by the UI Dental Alumni Association.

Like the distinguished alumnus for whom this honor is named, Eva Dahl has proven a tireless crusader for the University of Iowa. Her legacy of generosity and stewardship makes Dahl most deserving of the Loren Hickerson Recognition Award.

Dahl is a member of the UI Alumni Association's Directors' Club Honor Circle and the UI Foundation's Presidents Club.