In the wake of rising education costs, the Dental School of the Health Science Center received the largest gift from an individual to a dental school in Texas—$2 million from the estate of Dr. Stacy Wendell Clapp Jr., a former adjunct faculty member of the UT Health Science Center. The official presentation was Friday, Nov. 18, at the Omni Hotel as part of the Dental School’s 35th Anniversary Hollers Lecture and Gala Event.
“In order to continue our missions of teaching, research, patient care and public service, we must increasingly rely on financial support from those who care about the importance of what we do,” said Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center. “The kindness and vision of Dr. Clapp is a wonderful example of that support.”
This gift will create The Stacy Wendell Clapp Jr. Scholarship Endowment, which will provide secure, long-term funding for dental student scholarships, including research fellowships that advance dental care in perpetuity. Bank of America was named the trustee of the estate.
Dr. Clapp once remarked, “It is my hope, by the establishment of this fund, to provide the financial aid necessary so future generations of young men and women will have the opportunity to receive an education at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio’s Dental School so they might be able to serve humanity and the dental profession.”
Dr. Clapp graduated in 1935 from University of California Dental School and served in the U.S. Army for more than 27 years. Dr. Clapp served as an adjunct faculty member of the Health Science Center’s Dental School and the Medical Field School at Fort Sam Houston. In 1968, Dr. Clapp retired with the rank of colonel and Third Army Dental Surgeon stationed at Fort McPherson, Georgia, and moved to San Antonio.
In its 35 year history, the Dental School has had remarkable accomplishments. U.S. News and World Report ranked the Dental School as the number one dental school in the country (1993). The Dental School was also recently ranked the fourth best program in the world in terms of published articles and 11th in terms of scientific impact of 760 Dental Schools evaluated throughout the world, according to an international report by the Center for Science and Technology Studies in Bern, Switzerland. The school has graduated more than 3,000 dentists, many of whom practice in San Antonio and South Texas.