Omicron Kappa Upsilon, Omega Chapter

The New York University College of Dentistry Chapter of OKU, Omega, was founded by charter on June 6, 1929, and is one of 77 active chapters, including those in the US, Canada and other countries.

Admission to the Omega Chapter is based on scholarship and character and is determined by annual election by active members. Alumni Members (associate members) are selected from the top 20% of the graduating class, as reported to the chapter annually by the Dean of Academic Affairs. From this listing, not more than 12% may be elected each year.

Faculty Members (active) are selected from the dental school faculty and are those who have been teaching full time for three years or part time for six years. These faculty members must have made outstanding contribution to the art, science, or literature of dentistry.

Lifetime Memberships may be granted to active (faculty) members who have been members for 30 years and who have reached the age of 60. Lifetime members are exempt from dues and retain all of the privileges of active members while they remain on the dental school faculty. Associate Members (non-faculty alumni) are eligible for life membersship after 40 years of membership in good standing.

Omega Chapter is interested in the accomplishments and activities of our members. Please let the secretary know of your newsworthy activities, appointments, awards, etc. Also advise the secretary if you are planning an address change so that we can keep our roster current and you can continue to receive our mailings, check the members section and if you see any errors or omissions inform the secretary so that our records can be updated.

2023 OKU Celebration of Academic Excellence

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Executive Committee

President

Gerald Klaczany, DDS
NYU College of Dentistry
137 East 25th Street, 6th floor
New York, NY 10010
(212) 998-9701
gk5@nyu.edu

President-elect

Analia Veitz-Keenan, DDS
NYU College of Dentistry
345 East 24th Street, room 829S
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212-992-7757
av244@nyu.edu

Vice President

Marci Levine, DMD, MD
NYU College of Dentistry
345 East 24th Street, room 3W
New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212-992-7109
mhl6@nyu.edu

Secretary/Treasurer

Bapanaiah Penugonda, DDS
NYU College of Dentistry
345 East 24th Street, 5S
New York, NY 10010
(212) 998-9759
bp1@nyu.edu

Immediate Past President

Lucretia Depaola-Cefola, DDS
NYU College of Dentistry
345 East 24th Street, 4S
New York, NY 10010
(212) 992-7104
Ldp2013@nyu.edu

Active Faculty Members

Kenneth Allen
Lisa Antonoff
Paul Baker
Stephen Bergen
Gary Berkowitz
Charles Bertolami
Elyse Bloom
Mitchell Bloom
John Bowley
Michael Bral
Barnett Bucklan
John Calamia
Igor Chikunov
Mijin Choi
Ali Alper Comut
Dominick Congiusta
Harmon Cooper
Elena Cunningham
Ralph Cunningham
Steven David
Angel DeBartolo
John Delfino
Lucretia Depaola-Cefola
Nancy Dougherty
Elise Eisenberg
Ashraf Estafan
Denise Estafan
Jonathan Ferencz
Michael Ferguson
Jill Fernandez
Morey Gendler
Nicholas Giannuzzi
Ana Giglio
Robert Glickman
David Glotzer
Benjamin Godder
Robert Gureasko
Joel Hirsch
Leila Jahangiri
Juliet Kafka-Bergen
Vasiliki Karlis
Gerald Klaczany
Ronald Kosinski
Kenneth Kurtz
Wayne Kye
Yon Lai
Marci Levine
Edward Lipke
Mitchell Lipp
James LoPresti
Maria Madonna
Kenneth Magid
Daniel Malamud
Martine Mandracchia
Irena Mausner
Maureen McAndrew
John McIntosh
Eugenia Mejia
Bruce Merriam
Marjan Moghadam
Amr Moursi
Peter Mychajliw
Olivier Nicolay
Michael O'Connor
Leena Palomo
Nicola Partridge
Bapanaiah Penugonda
Jarret Pikser
Scott Podell
Seung-Hee Rhee
John Ricci
Linda Rosenberg
Paul Rosenberg
Bernard Rupnarain
Arthur Schackman
Andrea Schreiber
Stuart Segelnick
William Skiba
Ashok Soni
Andrew I. Spielman
Silvia Spivakovsky
Cristian Stefan
Vera Tang
David Tarrab
Denise Trochesset
Ilser Turkyilmaz
Richard Valachovic
Analia Veitz-Keenan
Roger Warren
Johanna Warshaw
Julie Yip

The Dean Edward G. Kaufman Award for Academic Excellence

The Kaufman Award was established by the NYU Dentistry Omega Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon to honor Dean Emeritus Kaufman on the occasion of his retirement in 1998. The award celebrates the excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service that defined Dr. Kaufman's career, culminating in his deanship from 1985 to 1998. It is presented annually to the student who has attained the highest grade point average during her or his freshman year.

The award recognizes both Dean Kaufman's personal scholarly distinctions as a leader in the fields of dental materials and prosthodontics at the national and international levels and his initiatives to promote academic excellence at the NYU College of Dentistry. These include the Dean's Research Awards, which provide funds for student research, and the Dean's Merit Scholarships, created in 1988 to provide incentives for high academic achievers to make the NYU College of Dentistry their dental school of choice.

Past Presidents, Omega Chapter

1929-30 Ellison Hillyer
1931 Leo Winter
1932-34 Allen T. Newman
1935 D. Austen Sniffen
1936 Alfred Walker
1937 Merrill G. Swensen
1938 Samuel C. Miller
1939 Thaddeus V. Joseph
1940 Finn J. Bronner
1941 Sidney Sorrin
1942 Vincent R. Trapozzano
1943-46 Samuel Hemley
1947 Walter B. Mullon
1948 Morris Cohen
1949 Otto H. Reisser
1950 Milton Hyman
1951 Henry W. Musterman
1952 David H. Cohello
1953 Louis Steinfelder
1954 Samuel S. Wald
1955 George A. Buckley
1956 Arthur H. Morrison
1957 Anthony S. Mecca
1958 Harold K. Addelston
1959 J. Lewis Blass
1960 Max Levy
1961 Morris B. Auerbach
1962 Harry Schneider
1963 Harry Blechman
1964 Herbert Grinnell
1965 Samuel Ravinett
1966 George J. Witkin
1967 Robert Gluck
1968 Irving Salman
1969 Eugene A. Rothchild
1970 William F. Harrigan
1971 Herbert M. Parker
1972 Edward G. Kaufman
1973 Howard L. Ward
1974 George Silling
1975 Oscar Ginder
1976 Louis Blatterfein
1977 Sidney Silverman
1978 Edward Epstein
1979 Herbert H. Frommer
1980 Irma Tuck Weiss
1981 Laurence Salman
1982 Stanley Antonoff
1983 Herbert Sherman
1984 Robert Sussman
1985 Martin Feingold
1986 Francis Panno
1987 Ormond Mitchell
1988 Stephen F. Bergen
1989 Joseph C. Miglino
1990 Jonathan Ferencz
1991 Stanley Hoch
1992 Ira Gulker
1993 Michael Bral
1994 Paul Rosenberg
1995 Gerald Borell
1996 Stuart Hirsch
1997 Stan BB Dawkins
1998 Milton Palat
1999 Peter Furnari
2000 Gary R.Goldstein
2001 Ashok Soni
2002 Robert Glickman
2003 Alan S. Broner
2004 Anthony Vernillo
2005 Warren Scherer
2006 Harvey I. Wishe
2007 Arthur Schackman
2008 Robert J. Boylan
2009 John Calamia
2010 Denise J. Estafan
2011 Martin Roy
2012 Jill Fernandez
2013 Mark Wolff
2014 Elise Eisenberg
2015 David Glotzer
2016 Kenneth Allen
2017 Michael B. Ferguson
2018 Maureen McAndrew
2019 Bruce Brandolin

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

January 2021

The Department of Pediatric Dentistry’s Bringing Smiles Dental Enrichment Program (BSDEP) has received a $5,000 donation from the Omega Chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU), the national dental honor society. BSDEP is a pipeline program that supports and prepares underrepresented minority pre-dental students (interns) for successful application and matriculation into dental school.

OKU’s generous donation will go directly to supporting the BSDEP interns, helping to offset the high cost of applying to dental school (including costs associated with DAT preparation, applications, interviews, and deposits, among others).

ARCHIVE: Celebration of Academic Excellence

2022 OKU
Celebration of Academic Excellence

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2018 OKU
Celebration of Academic Excellence

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2016 OKU
Celebration of Academic Excellence

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2021 OKU
Celebration of Academic Excellence

2017 OKU
Celebration of Academic Excellence

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ARCHIVE: Induction Ceremonies

2020 OKU Annual Convocation and Induction Ceremony

May 7, 2020

Class of 2020 Inductees

Joseph Adragna
Alon Aminov
Monica Bahoshy
Silvia Castro
Seung Young Cha
Young Moon Cho
Sharrow Chuang
Stefan Cristian
Aleksandra Dragojevic
Mariya Dzhaniyeva
Omar Garada
Maryam Ghorbani
Charlotte Guerrera
Ina Han
Jordan Hekmati
Mandi Hirsch
Andrew Hopkins
Kateryna Huz
Farnaz Jahangiri
Rivka Kalendarov
Michelle Kamel
Austin Quang-Ngoc Le
Jae Hyun Lee
Jonathan Malakan
Jacob Mattina
Giannuzzi Nicholas
Shariss Ostrager
Eugene Park
Viral Patel
Allison Rascon
Haley Rosenberg
Sejndi Rusi
Mary Salama
Arshdeep Singh
Laurie Siu
Julia Solarewicz
Jaemin Song
Moses Stern
Alexander Tan
Isaac Traube
Katherine Wang
Solomon Weiss
Kevin Winegar
Amy Yang
Stephen Yang
Zhen Zhao
Karen Zheng