30 September 2025

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ASOD celebrates long-time academic dean Ed Swift

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At Adams School of Dentistry, faculty and staff members often say their favorite part of working here is the people. And no one embodies this better than Ed Swift, DMD, MS, most recently the executive vice dean for academic affairs. Swift is a wonderful example of the cooperation, teamwork and overall good spirits that make ASOD a great place to work, and as we look back at his 32-year career at ASOD, there are many moments that are truly a testament to his character and his impact on the school.

Swift is stepping away from full-time work this year while remaining in a part-time capacity teaching and assisting with the transitions in Academic Affairs. But he’s also embracing his upcoming retirement, and ASOD recently celebrated his legacy — academic excellence, friendship, camaraderie and patience — at a celebration with students, current and former faculty, staff, friends and family members.

Honoring his impact

Janet Guthmiller, DDS, PhD, dean, ASOD, spoke to Swift’s impact on the school and her own experiences when she was a student at the University of Iowa and Swift as a professor. Guthmiller estimated Swift has taught around 3,500 students during his career, and taking into account patients he’s cared for, people he’s interacted with and those that have heard his lectures, she figured that Swift has impacted more than 5 million lives while he’s been actively working.

“It has been a true honor and a pleasure to be your student and to work alongside you,” Guthmiller said. “Thank you for the dedication to our students, thank you for your dedication to the Adams School of Dentistry, and thank you for your dedication to our profession. You have created a legacy in our school and in our profession. Thank you for this gift of your legacy.”

Sumi Ahmed, BDS, MS, assistant dean of student life, said Swift’s long career has made a difference at ASOD, as there was no role he wouldn’t take on.

“At one point you took on the three most important jobs at this school and set a high bar for all of them. You leave behind a legacy of excellence. You haven’t just made an impression on operative dentistry, but you’ve touched a lot of lives along the way,” Ahmed said.

Some of those students shared sentiments about Swift’s retirement, thanking him for offering a friendly ear for student concerns, going above and beyond to help students, and for sharing his extensive dental knowledge. Molly Ross, DDS candidate ‘27, shared a list of words from current students that described Swift — admirable, compassionate, witty, a mentor, caring, attentive, ethical, compassionate, patient, understanding, warm, optimistic, kind, empathetic, dedicated, wise, kind hearted and one in a million.

Dr. Swift is not only an amazing dentist but he’s a great leader and advocate. He stands up for the students and makes sure he puts our voices in every conversation,” she said.

“It’s hard to imagine dental school without him. Dr. Swift was truly the glue that held us together—the steady presence we could always count on in a time full of change,” said Laura Sundmark, DDS ‘21.

In his own words

Swift addressed the large crowd, sharing that he had ChatGPT take a look at his remarks to make sure the text would fit the bill for a good retirement speech. He also thanked his family for attending and supporting him throughout the years, and then he focused on his time at ASOD.

“I’ve been a member of some prestigious organizations, I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the country and around the world, and I’ve had the privilege to meet and even become friends with some of the most well known and some of the most influential people in the profession, but none of that compares to the greatest satisfaction of my career — which is working with the people here,” he said.

“[I’m filled with] gratitude for his consistently welcoming and open-door approach to our conversations. I remember those drop-in sessions fondly. His accessibility, schedule permitting, was a tremendous support during the challenging period without a dean amid the pandemic.”

Brandon Gibson, DDS ’22

Origins of an oral health career

While Swift’s career was a long one, he didn’t always know it would lead to oral health or academia. He knew he wanted to be in the medical field, but didn’t know that dentistry was his calling initially.

“I fell into [dentistry,]” he said. “I always knew I wanted to do something in the general medical field. Dentistry provides more control of life and time, and I wanted more control than being, for example, an emergency room physician and working emergencies at 2 a.m.”

No one in Swift’s family was in oral health care, and while he was working on his bachelor’s degree at the University of South Carolina, he made the decision to attend Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for dental school. After graduating with his DMD and moving into private practice, Swift realized it wasn’t something he wanted to do forever and started to explore new ventures.

An open faculty position at the University of Mississippi caught his eye, and he asked a friend on the faculty for some more information. It happened to be the friend’s position, as he was moving to a similar position elsewhere. He encouraged Swift to apply, and he got an interview.

“I got there and the chair of the department had been at MUSC, and remembered me,” Swift said. “He said ‘I remember you well from dental school. You always had a smile on your face.’  And they hired me.”

It was during his time at Mississippi that Swift realized teaching and scholarship was a great fit. Budget cuts forced his hand though, and he took a position at the University of Iowa, where a friend had attended dental school and spoke to its merits. He was hired, and while on faculty, he earned his master’s degree in operative dentistry. He also fondly remembers one particular student — a standout third-year, Janet Guthmiller. Swift said she finished first in her class.

He spent around seven years at Iowa, doing a lot of research and writing alongside his teaching, and he started publishing his work, building an impressive array of authorship credits on academic papers.

“Dr. Swift was always accessible and attentive to the concerns of our class. As a lecturer, Dr. Swift consistently went the extra mile in sharing his knowledge of dentistry with us and willingly gave lectures on topics we felt we needed more exposure to. Dr. Swift was committed to ensuring we were prepared for every challenge ahead, from the INBDE and ADEX to preparing for our future careers in dentistry. His presence has meant so much to the Class of 2024. While we wish him the very best in his well deserved retirement, we are truly sad to see him go. Thank you for everything, Dr. Swift and happy retirement!”

Jasmine Nevil, DDS ‘24

A Carolina career

“My academic reputation started to precede me, and I was getting offers from other schools,” he said.

In 1993, Swift was hired at Carolina, and he helped to start the Operative Dentistry graduate program and served as its first director. Then he became chair of the Department of Operative Dentistry and served as an interim co-clinic dean for several months. When Guthmiller left to become the dean at Nebraska, Swift filled in in an interim capacity until being named academic dean. He even filled in as interim dean before Guthmiller started her position in 2022 and remained as executive vice dean until his official retirement.

“It was a brutal time. I was busy,” he said of his time as interim dean. “When they finally hired Dean Guthmiller, George Blakey, [chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery] said ‘Ed had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.’ ”

Retirement is just one more step in a long career for Swift. “This is a good time for me professionally,” he said. “I’ve pretty much done everything, and it was a good time to slow down a bit.”

Extraordinary people

Swift said the people he has worked with have made an impression on him, and it has been a highlight of his career.

“Over the years, you get to work with a lot of different people and throughout my career, I’ve always been fortunate to work with really good and nice people. People you get to meet, know, work with — students, faculty or staff. It’s a continuum of always being surrounded by people who were nice, basically,” he said.

“Dr. Ed Swift has been a true gem to the UNC Adams School of Dentistry. Despite having such important administrative roles, he was always accessible to students and made efforts to improve our dental school experience day in and day out. I’ll always admire the ways in which Dr. Swift would step into anything asked of him, especially serving as Interim Dean. Dr. Swift truly goes above and beyond — whether as a leader, educator, mentor or friend”

Dani Nicholson, DDS ’23

While he has much to celebrate in retirement, such as the arrival of a first grandchild, there are things Swift said he will miss.

“Working with the students is, by far, the most fun thing about this job,” he said. “They are a lot younger, and it makes you feel like you’re younger when you interact with them. I felt invigorated to be around younger people all the time.”

Source: https://dentistry.unc.edu/