VCU news

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

Virginia Commonwealth University today announced a $2.5 million gift  to the School of Dentistry from VCU alumnus and former Rector W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr., D.D.S.

This is the largest gift in the School of Dentistry's 113-year history.  It will be used to advance the school's clinics, labs and technology as well as to recruit top faculty and students.

"Dr. Perkinson's support of VCU continues to be extraordinary," said VCU President Eugene P. Trani. "His generous contributions of time, energy and financial gifts have made a significant impact on this university becoming a world-class research institution."

In making the gift, Perkinson said he hopes to strengthen the rich partnership he enjoys with VCU and the School of Dentistry with this significant investment in the school. 

"For much of my life my involvement with VCU and the School of Dentistry has been a big part of who I am and what I do," Perkinson said. "I am thrilled to be able to make this gift and give back to a place that given so much to my family and me."

Perkinson, a 1970 graduate of the VCU School of Dentistry, is founder of Virginia's largest dental practice.  Three of his four children and a son-in-law followed him in earning Doctor of Dental Surgery degrees at VCU. 

Perkinson said his introduction to dentistry came at age 12 when he was treated at the Medical College of Virginia's School of Dentistry.  He said being treated at the school over the course of several years made him decide to become a dentist – a lofty ambition coming from a poor family in which no one had yet gone to college.

"It's the reason I do what I do," Perkinson said. "Dental school gave me a tremendous start to my life."

Perkinson has served on the dental faculty since graduation, for 36 years.  He has received numerous honors from VCU, including the Presidential Medallion, the MCV Dental Faculty Award and the School of Dentistry Medallion. He also received the American Dental Association's first ever Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Leadership in Mentoring.

Ronald Hunt, dean of the VCU School of Dentistry, said that in recognition of Dr. Perkinson's years of support to the school, a request will be made to the VCU Board of Visitors to name a new dental school building in honor of Perkinson.

"Dr. Perkinson's gift is a benefit not only to the school, but also to dental health overall," Hunt said. "It will help us better meet the dental needs of Virginians and expand our research into improving methods of preventing and managing dental disease."

The new, 55,000 square-foot, four-story building on Leigh St. will connect the existing Lyons and Wood dental school buildings. It will include clinics, classrooms, a conference center and research space.  A groundbreaking is scheduled for the summer of 2007.

Perkinson also serves as vice president of the VCU Health System Authority. He has served as rector of the VCU Board of Visitors, as a member of the School of Dentistry's Advisory Board and as a member of the Medical College of Virginia Foundation Board of Trustees.  He has provided other significant financial support for the dental school, including the simulation center, as well as for student-athlete scholarships and the VCU Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences.