Marquette Honors Champion of Minority Health Care

Released: October 15, 2004

MILWAUKEE – Marquette University honored Dr. Karl Self for his efforts to improve health care for minorities Wednesday, October 13, 2004. Self was named this year's holder of the Ralph H. Metcalfe, Sr., Chair, in recognition of his extensive teaching, research and service within the field of dentistry.

Dr. Self is the executive director of the Community-University Health Care Center/Variety Children's Clinic, a health center devoted to serving low-income, special-needs, and diverse communities in Minneapolis . Self also teaches as an associate professor of dentistry at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, and facilitates a mentorship program through the university hospital and clinics that recruits and works to retain minority health specialists.

Self graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree from Gustavus Aldolphus College in St. Peter , Minnesota in 1981, and earned his D.D.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1984 and 1992, respectively. In addition to several positions at the University of Minnesota , he has worked for the State of Minnesota , and in private practice.

The Ralph H. Metcalfe, Sr., Chair, established in 1981, is named for Ralph Metcalfe, a 1936 alumnus of Marquette who was a world record holder in track and an Olympian before being elected a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois . The Chair brings to Marquette each year an outstanding scholar from a cultural group that has been historically underrepresented in the American professorate (particularly scholars of African descent in honor of Metcalfe). It provides an important opportunity to bring prominent faculty, scholars and professionals to campus for a brief stay to highlight their contributions to their field and enrich the campus community with notable role models.