Dear Pitt Dental Medicine Family:
After 35+ years of service to the University of Pittsburgh, Bob Weyant, MS, DMD, DrPH will be retiring as a tenured-professor/Chair/Associate Dean for Dental Public Health and Community Outreach at the end of June 2026.
Dr. Weyant’s impact on Pitt Dental Medicine—and to the larger dental public health community—cannot be fully captured in this announcement. As a faculty member, he has held prominent leadership roles in service, teaching, and administration, including Associate Dean for Dental Public Health and Community Outreach, Chair of the Department of Dental Public Health, Director of Research and Head of the Division of Pediatric and Developmental Dental Sciences, Director for the Center of Oral Health Research in Appalachia, and Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs—just to name a few. While serving our school, Dr. Weyant also has brought noteworthy national and international recognition to our institution through various external roles where he has offered his service that includes, Commissioner for The Lancet Commission on Oral Health, Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Public Health Dentistry, and in various leadership positions with the American Dental Association, the American Association for Public Health Dentistry, the Journal of Evidence Based Dental Practice, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committees, the American Association for Dental Research Pittsburgh Chapter, and the National Institutes of Health—again, these noted as mere highlights across his esteemed career.
Dr. Weyant also has brought prestige to the University of Pittsburgh and our school through his research contributing to more than 260 publications, multiple book chapters, abstracts, and federal agency reports, and has been the primary investigator, co-investigator, or project director on 35 funded grants. As the longstanding Chair of the Department of Dental Public Health, his impact has touched every corner of the department—its faculty and staff, our students, as well as the broader community of our school that we collectively serve.
His calm demeanor and unwavering kindness could always be counted on, especially during tough times. Dr. Weyant will indeed be greatly missed, but I am happy to announce that his connection with Pitt will continue as he is awarded Emeritus status by the University.
Congratulations Bob, on this earned recognition, and we wish you the very best in your well-deserved retirement. I predict your dedication, loyalty, and contributions will continue to shape our School of Dental Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh for years to come.
As the search continues for a new chair of the Department of Dental Public Health, I am grateful that Dr. Jim Earle has agreed to serve as Interim Chair, effective July 1, and until a new chair is identified.
Dr. Earle has had a long and distinguished career in his 33 years of service here at Pitt where he has held several high-level leadership positions. After beginning his career as a volunteer intern in the Athletic Department while working on his Master of Business Administration degree. He rose to the level of Associate Athletic Director where he oversaw all of the business operations and external relations of the Pitt Athletic Department. After 11 years in athletics, he became the Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and Auxiliary Services for the University. In this role, he and his team of over 300 employees were responsible for all housing, dining, bookstores, parking, conference services, mailing, and moving operations on Pitt’s Oakland campus. While holding this position, Dr. Earle also completed his Doctor of Education degree.
For the past six years here at Pitt Dental Medicine, Dr. Earle has been an instrumental part of the leadership team and a key driver of positive, change—leading initiatives that have resulted in both cultural, communications, and operational enhancements at our school. More recently, he and his team started the dental assistant training program and are now poised to open our first two Regional Training Centers (RTC) to prepare students in rural areas for careers in dental health care and to improve access to care in these communities. Alongside submitting competitive requests for funding from the Commonwealth’s Rural Health Transformation Program, which are still pending approval, he has been instrumental in securing financial support for the RTCs, including, a $450,0000 grant from HRSA, a $100,000 donation of equipment, and a $30,000 annual scholarship from an industry partner for hygiene students attending a RTC program. Dr. Earle has been a co-instructor in the ACT ARCO leadership class and continues to show his commitment to our students by conducting mock interviews for interested D4 students who are pursuing a residency program.
Dr. Earle’s leadership experience and expertise will offer the Department of Dental Public Health stability and the opportunity to continue to positively impact our student experiences and the community as the national search for a permanent chair of the department continues.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Weyant on this well-earned milestone, and in welcoming Dr. Earle to his interim appointment.
With collaborative spirit,
Marnie Oakley,
Dean