Cempa Community Care has promoted Maggie Taylor to director of dental services at its Dental Clinic. Taylor has been part of the Cempa Dental Clinic team since assisting with the opening of the clinic in 2023, as well as hiring, training and coaching the team. Taylor currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the clinic.
Taylor brings nearly 20 years of dental experience to the Cempa team, including time spent chairside in patient service, as well as in practice management and administration. She has a degree in dental assisting and dental radiology and administration.
“Cempa Community Care is bridging the gap with access to comprehensive dentistry for everyone, including uninsured and underinsured individuals who experience limited access to dental care,” Taylor says. “As I step into the role of director of dental services, I look forward to continuing to expand that access to dental care for all who need it.”
New roles for UTC faculty
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has named Dr. Kim Wingate, a longtime member of the UTC faculty, director of the university’s School of Education. Wingate joined the UTC faculty as an assistant professor in the School of Education in 2007.
In a related move, UTC has named Dr. Allen Pratt the School of Education’s director of strategic partnerships. Pratt, who also serves as executive director of the National Rural Education Association, has served alongside Wingate as the interim co-director of the School of Education since 2022.
While at UTC, Wingate spent 16 years running the UTC Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers and has overseen the identification of Butterfield Fellows candidates, a program that supports teachers in Hamilton County Schools in implementing classroom management techniques.
Wingate has been leading UTC efforts in Grow Your Own, a statewide program supporting partnerships between Educator Preparation Providers and Local Education Agencies to provide innovative, no-cost pathways to the teaching profession.
Pratt has spent his entire career in education, with much of his experience in non-urban settings. Before joining the NREA, whose national headquarters are housed on the UTC campus, his resume included stints as a high school science teacher and coach, high school principal, assistant superintendent, executive director of the Tennessee Rural Education Association and executive director of the Tennessee Department of Education’s East Tennessee regional field office of the Centers of Regional Excellence.
In 2023, Pratt established a new partnership between UTC and the national Rural Schools Collaborative to improve the K-12 education workforce throughout Appalachia and increase the visibility and profile of rural schools and educators. UTC joined Morehead (Kentucky) State University to co-lead RSC’s Appalachia Regional Hub.