WASHINGTON, March 8, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is pleased to announce that Carolyn L. Booker, Rh.D. has been named the new Senior Vice President for Educational Pathways. Dr. Booker is currently the Associate Dean of Students and Administrative Faculty Affairs and an Associate Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Dentistry. She will begin her new position at ADEA on June 3, 2013. Dr. Booker succeeds Anne Wells, Ed.D., who is retiring from ADEA after nearly 10 years of service.

Dr. Booker has spent more than 20 years in higher education, having worked at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry and Radford University, in addition to the VCU School of Dentistry. She obtained her Doctorate from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from South Carolina State University. She is also a certified rehabilitation counselor.

In her position at the VCU School of Dentistry, Dr. Booker's responsibilities have included supervising all student services activities and faculty affairs, managing financial aid services, administering enrichment programs for students in elementary school through college, and serving as course director for Ethics and Professionalism. She is actively involved in the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, the Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development, and the American Counseling Association, and serves as President of the National Association of Medical Minority Educators.

At ADEA, Dr. Booker will lead the ADEA Division of Education Pathways (DEP), which oversees ADEA's centralized application services (ADEA AADSAS, ADEA PASS, ADEA CAAPID, and ADEA's newest centralized application service for dental hygiene, ADEA DHCAS, which will launch in August). ADEA DEP also provides programming and resources for all of those involved in the recruitment, admission, and retention of students, residents, and fellows in all levels of dental education.

"I am very pleased that Dr. Carolyn Booker will join ADEA in this leadership role. She brings a great deal of expertise and a deep understanding of the student's perspective with her to ADEA. I am confident she will continue the success of the Division of Educational Pathways and contribute greatly to the achievement of our strategic directions," says ADEA Executive Director Richard W. Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H.

About the American Dental Education Association

The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is the voice of dental education. Its members include all U.S. and Canadian dental schools and many allied and advanced dental education programs, corporations, faculty, and students. The mission of ADEA is to lead individuals and institutions of the dental education community to address contemporary issues influencing education, research, and the delivery of oral health care for the health of the public. ADEA's activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings, and communications like the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school admissions services AADSAS, PASS, and CAAPID.

The American Dental Education Association logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=12061