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Two College Alumni Earn Prestigious 2019 UIC Alumni Association Awards

Two College Alumni Earn Prestigious 2019 UIC Alumni Association Awards

We are thrilled to announce that two UIC College of Dentistry alumni have been selected to receive the esteemed UICAA awards this fall. Congratulations, Drs. Haas and Lugakingira!

Each year, UIC and Chancellor Michael Amiridis honor alumni for the remarkable success they have achieved in their lives and work. On behalf of the UIC Alumni Association (UICAA) Alumni Awards and Traditions Committee, we are thrilled to announce that two UIC College of Dentistry alumni have been selected to receive the esteemed UICAA awards this fall.

The awardees will be celebrated at the annual Alumni Awards reception on October 24, 2019. Update: UIC Today Top Story and photo albums one and two from the event.

Distinguished Service Award
The award is presented to individuals or couples whose consistent, exceptional, and meritorious service to the University has made a significant impact on the institution’s overall welfare and the advancement of its mission. 

Congratulations, Dr. Andrew J. Haas, Loyola ’53, UIC MS Orthodontics ’57!

Dr. Andrew J. Haas, has continuously taught graduate orthodontics for the past 60 years, having held professorships at UIC, Ohio State University and Loyola University. This has given him the opportunity to participate in the education of more than 800 residents. What is truly unique is that he traveled to the UIC College of Dentistry to teach all those years while living in Ohio, and for 52 years, managing a private practice. Dr. Haas has pioneered and developed all three forms of palatal expansion — rapid, semi-rapid and slow palatal expansion, known internationally as the Haas Palatal Expander. Dr. Haas has received numerous awards from the American Board of Orthodontics as well as the UIC College of Dentistry. Dr. Haas has served on organized dentistry boards, including service to the Great Lakes Society of Orthodontists and the Edward H. Angle Society for Orthodontia. His dental legacy continues on through his three sons whom he practiced with, and have since taken over the private practices in Akron, Stow, Green, and Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

“His contributions to the specialty of Orthodontics and to UIC are immense. His work has been the framework for improving our knowledge of the factors involved in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning.”
- Veerasathpurush Allareddy, BDS MBA MHA MMSc CAGE PhD
Professor and Head of Department of Orthodontics Brodie Craniofacial Endowed Chair
Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry
Rising Star Leadership Award
The Rising Star Leadership Award is a new recognition in 2019 designed to acknowledge rising and future leaders among UIC’s recent alumni community.  Those individuals who are qualified for this award have demonstrated exemplary leadership capabilities and orchestrated meaningful change as influential in their profession or in their communities (local, regional, national, global).  The recipient of the Rising Star Leadership Award represents the ideal of a committed, industrious, and ambitious individual to whom the UIC community may look as personifying the University’s mission. 

Congratulations, Dr. Mulokozi Lugakingira, University of Dar-es-salaam, DDS ‘99, University of Pennsylvania, DMD ’04, UIC MS Oral Sciences and Certificate, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, ’11!

Dr. Mulokozi Lugakingira, a.k.a “The Implant Doctor”, a.k.a “Dr. Luga”, is an oral surgeon and partner at the Fort Wayne Oral Maxillofacial Surgery & Implant Centers. He is also on-call, including for weekend oral surgery, for all five area hospitals for numerous oral and maxillofacial surgery needs.  Dr. Lugakingira is also part of the "Children's Craniofacial Center" Team at DuPont Hospital in Fort Wayne, taking care of cleft lip and palate patients. Dr. Lugakingira is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (ABOMS) and a Diplomate of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). Dr. Lugakingira has been listed by USA Top Dentists Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery since 2013, an honor voted on by his peers. He is an active member of numerous state, national, and international professional organizations. In fulfilling their long awaited dream and goal, in 2015 Dr. Lugakingira and wife Kos, began a nonprofit organization, Kagera Advancement Inc. (KAI).  It is a 501(c) 3 public charity whose purpose is to help advance education and healthcare in Katale Village in Tanzania, 8,000 miles away from Indiana. Since 2015, KAI has provided Katare Secondary School with a fully renovated space complete with desks, chairs, and electricity; a new library with books, desks, chairs, and electricity; a computer lab within the library with four computers, a printer, and a scanner; provision of textbooks for each student for all nine subjects taught at the school, for about 20 students; a new physics laboratory; provisions of supplies, including scientific calculators, sharpeners, toothbrushes, and toothpaste; workbooks and crayons for pre-school children from the area; new soccer uniforms and netball uniforms for the school’s teams; and implementation of best student and best teacher monetary awards programs, paid for personally by Dr. Lugakingira and his wife, Kos. Within two years of KAI’s support, on average the overall student grades have gone up a letter.

“Dr. Lugakingira was a diligent and well-read resident who was most interested in serving as a critical asset to sustaining optimal oral health in his local Indiana community as well as globally in his native country of Tanzania.  In such a short time following his residency training, Dr. Lugakingira has achieved great success in the profession as a clinician, researcher, and honoree for multiple awards as a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.”
- Michael Miloro, DMD, MD, FACS
Professor and Head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Residency Program Director