Associate Professor
School of Dentistry

Sheryl Syme, RDH, MS is an associate professor in the School of Dentistry. She currently teaches dental students in the division of periodontics. She has been a faculty member for 28 years at the School of Dentistry and has served as BS Program Director, BS Degree Completion Program Director, Director of the BS/MS Dual Degree Clinical Dental Hygiene Leader (CDHL) Track, Director of Curriculum Management, and Director of Recruitment and Admissions in the division of dental hygiene.  Ms. Syme created the CDHL dual degree track, the first CODA approved dual degree clinical dental hygiene track in the country which is a feature program in the School of Dentistry educational facility at the Universities of Shady Grove. She received the Dental Hygiene Linda DeVore Alumni of the Year award from the School of Dentistry in 2016.  

Ms. Syme has been the Clinical Director for Special Olympics Maryland Special Smiles for over 15 years bringing oral health education and preventive services to athletes with intellectual disabilities and training dental students and dental professionals to work with patients with special needs.  In 2013, she received the Maryland Oral Health Hero Award from the Maryland Dental Action Coalition for her 28+ years of service to Special Olympics Maryland. She currently holds several grants focused on improving oral health education and preventive services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in group homes in Carroll County.  Additionally, Ms. Syme serves as the Education Director on the Mid-Atlantic P.A.N.D.A. (Prevent Abuse and Neglect Through Dental Awareness) Coalition board and has provided webinars available nationally and internationally to address the need to recognize, report, and refer victims of family violence and human trafficking. She has authored several textbook chapters and scholarly articles focused on prevention of abuse and neglect of children, elderly, vulnerable adults and victims of intimate partner violence and human trafficking.  Ms. Syme is  a member of UMB’s Community Collaborative on Intimate Partner Violence. 

Ms. Syme has been a consultant and external curriculum reviewer for several national dental hygiene programs conducting program reviews and served as the Curriculum Expert on accreditation teams as a site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation. Ms. Syme served several years as the Chair of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association Institute for Oral Health Grants Review Committee and is an editorial review board member for several dental and dental hygiene journals.  She currently serves on her third National Board Dental Hygiene Examination Test Construction Committee for the American Dental Association Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations. In 2010, Ms. Syme received the Hall of Fame Alumni of the Year Award for Service and Humanitarian Work with Operation Smile Vietnam from the Catonsville High School Alumni Association.