Department of Endodontics Establishes First Endowed Professorship, Named for Dr. Franklin S. Weine
A significant IGNITE campaign gift from Dr. Ronald Milnarik, ’67, Loyola Endodontics ’75, Clinical Assistant Professor, Endodontics, and his wife, Pauline, has established the first endowed professorship in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry Department of Endodontics: The Franklin S. Weine Endowed Professorship in Endodontics.
IGNITE: The Campaign for UIC has a goal of raising $750 million for the University, $37 million of which is for the College of Dentistry.
The Milnariks named the professorship for the late Dr. Franklin S. Weine, ’57, who was a faculty member admired by his students at three highly respected educational institutions: the UIC College of Dentistry, Loyola University Chicago School of Dentistry, and Osaka Dental University, Japan. Dr. Weine was one of Dr. Milnarik’s teachers, and Dr. Milnarik also considered him a mentor, colleague, and friend.
Endowed professorships allow the University to recruit and retain promising teachers and researchers from around the world and encourage them to innovate and expand their careers at UIC.
“Frank would be honored by Dr. Ron Milnarik’s establishment of the endowed professorship,” said Dorothy Weine, wife of the late Dr. Weine.
“We decided to provide this gift because we wanted to support my dental school, to honor Dr. Weine, and to further bring together UIC and Loyola alumni, since Dr. Weine and I had ties to both schools,” Dr. Milnarik explained. “We were both alumni of UIC, he taught at Loyola for 23 years before coming back to UIC to teach, and I was one of his endodontics students at Loyola.
“Dr. Weine was head of graduate endodontics at Loyola and our main endodontic teacher, but most importantly, he was our inspiration,” Dr. Milnarik said. “He was a great mentor for all the graduate students in endodontics. I thought an endowed professorship would be a wonderful way to honor him.”
“Ron went from being a student to being a friend,” Mrs. Weine recalled. “I remember one time when he called Frank to warn us of an impending tornado that was approaching our home in Olympia Fields. It was not surprising that he did something like this because he cared.”
“Dr. and Mrs. Milnarik’s gift will drive innovations in Endodontics and honors both the mentorship of Dr. Weine and the expertise of our Department of Endodontics today, and is visionary for helping endodontics for the future,” said Dean Clark Stanford. “The gift creates a legacy that will be impactful across the College and shows the leadership, humility, value, and vision of Dr. Milnarik.”
Endodontics Department Head Dr. Bradford Johnson, Endodontics ’91, MPH ’05, is grateful to the Milnariks for the department’s first endowed professorship. “The creation of an endowed professorship will greatly enhance the visibility and stature of our department at all levels—College of Dentistry, UIC, and nationally/internationally,” he said.
“An endowed professorship creates a lasting legacy and grows with time,” Dr. Johnson continued. “In addition to the prestige attached to an endowed professorship, the endowed position will be a valuable incentive for recruitment and retention of future endodontics faculty. Funds generated by the endowed position will be used to support faculty and resident research and other scholarly activities in the Department of Endodontics.”
“An endowed professorship in my field of endodontics is an enduring, lasting way to support the College,” Dr. Milnarik explained. “I have a propensity for planning ahead, and my hope is that it will give the Department of Endodontics a boost and more flexibility in attracting and retaining great new faculty, now and long into the future.
“An endowed professorship is a way to not only perpetuate Dr. Weine’s memory, but to inspire others to aspire to be as great a teacher as he was,” Dr. Milnarik noted. “He was a passionate teacher who used practical cases to illustrate points. He had a whole series of favorite cases that provided examples that his students will never forget, and I’ve followed his method in teaching our students here.”
This also is the College’s first endowed professorship established during the IGNITE campaign. Funding faculty excellence through endowed professorships and endowed chairs is one of the five key areas the College is focusing on during IGNITE.
“We are extremely grateful to receive this unique gift from Dr. and Mrs. Milnarik as its impact on the Department of Endodontics will be felt for generations,” said Associate Dean for Advancement Mark J. Valentino.
“Their support also provides us with great momentum as we begin the public phase of the IGNITE campaign. To have an alumnus and faculty member make such a leadership gift should inspire others to partner with us in similar ways. With the combined support of our many alumni and friends, this truly can be a transformational campaign like no other for the College of Dentistry,” he continued.
“I’d also like to recognize the important work that Director of Development Bruno Mancari provided in this effort. Building relationships with our donors that make it both comfortable and enjoyable to support our critical initiatives is what we aspire to do within the Office of Advancement,” added Valentino.
For 23 years, Dr. Weine was Professor and Director of Graduate Endodontics at the Loyola University Chicago School of Dentistry. At his passing in 2012, he held the rank of Professor Emeritus at Loyola’s Medical Center, Adjunct Professor in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry’s Department of Endodontics, and Visiting Professor of Endodontics at Osaka Dental University in Japan.
His textbook, Endodontic Therapy, was published in seven languages.
“Dr. Weine has almost universal name recognition in the endodontic community and among the many thousands of general dentists who trained using his classic textbook in the 1970s through the 1990s and beyond,” Dr. Johnson said.
Dr. Weine earned his DDS from the UIC College of Dentistry in 1957, and his MSD and Certificate in Endodontics from Indiana University in 1966.
He earned the UIC College of Dentistry’s highest honor, the Distinguished Dental Alumnus Award, in 2005. The surgical suite in the Postgraduate Endodontics Clinic also bears Dr. Weine’s name.
In addition to his writing, lecturing, and teaching, Dr. Weine kept a part-time clinical practice specializing in Endodontics in downtown Chicago for four decades.
“The University of Illinois gave Frank the education he needed to learn about dentistry, so he could treat the people of the State of Illinois and internationally,” Mrs. Weine said. “Frank would have been proud and grateful to know that his contributions to the study and treatment of endodontically involved teeth was being recognized by his school, and he would have been thrilled that Dr. Ron Milnarik thought so highly of him that he made a significant contribution to the UIC College of Dentistry to establish the professorship.”
“The incredibly generous gift that Dr. Milnarik and his wife, Pauline, provided is even more remarkable considering that they chose to name it after Dr. Milnarik’s mentor, Dr. Weine, instead of themselves,” Dr. Johnson concluded. “I am deeply grateful for the Milnariks’ gift and want them to know they have created a legacy that will endure for the benefit of future generations of endodontists and dentists.”
“It makes me feel fantastic to recognize and honor Dr. Weine this way,” Dr. Milnarik said. “If others would like to join Pauline and me in honoring the legacy of Dr. Weine, we would welcome their support and participation. The wonderful thing about an endowed faculty position is that the more we grow the fund, the more resources the Department of Endodontics will have in the future.”
Several years ago, Dr. Milnarik established the Dr. Marshall W. Milnarik Scholarship at the College. Named for his father, a Loyola Dental School alumnus, the scholarship is awarded annually to a third-year student in honor of clinical and academic excellence, along with interest, leadership, and enthusiasm for the profession.
For more information, or to make a donation to the Weine Endowed professorship, or for more information on the IGNITE campaign, contact Mark J. Valentino, Associate Dean for Advancement, at (312) 413-7702 or mjv@uic.edu, or Bruno Mancari, Director of Development, at (312) 413-3554 or bmancari@uic.edu.
Captions:
Top photo: the late Dr. Franklin S. Weine, speaking at a UIC College of Dentistry Reunion. Dr. Ron Milnarik and his wife, Pauline, established an Endowed Professorship in Endodontics named for Dr. Weine.
Dr. Ron Milnarik and his wife, Pauline, presenting a Milnarik Scholarship to Dr. Nisha Mehta.