Behrend Talks: A Penn State Podcast
Join Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend, and guests for conversations about interesting things happening in the Erie community.
Behrend Talks: A Penn State Podcast
Opportunities for alumni engagement, with Dr. Priscilla Hamilton
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Dr. Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, talks with Dr. Priscilla Hamilton, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former commander of the U.S. Army Dental Command, about her work with the Council of Fellows and the Women’s Engagement Council.
I am Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend and you are listening to Behrend Talks. My guest today is Dr. Priscilla Hamilton, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former commander of the U.S. Army Dental Command. Welcome to the show, Priscilla. Well, I want to talk a little bit about your background. So
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Thank you, Ralph. I'm going to run through your bio here and your many accomplishments. But first, you did attend Behrend before graduating and transferring to our University Park campus. And you graduated from U.P. in 1978. And now, since you've retired, you've become very active here on campus and for which we are very grateful. You are a trusted adviser to our college leadership team through our Behrend Council of Fellows board of directors. And you are playing an active role in our Women's Engagement Council, which we started here in 2020. And doing some great things there. And you know, I just want to run through a few other items. You know, our listeners should know, that you had a 33-year distinguished career in the U.S. Army, you hold a DMD from the University of Pittsburgh, where you are a distinguished alumna. You have a master's in Health Care Administration from Baylor University, got a number of different institutions, and a master's in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and very importantly to us, you are a Penn State Alumni Fellow, which is a recognition that we bestow on only 1/10 of 1% of our alumni. And I will say Behrend College nominated you for that. And let's go a little further during, you know, I hope you I've embarrassed you quite a bit. But during your time in the U.S. Army, you served in numerous command staff and operational assignments, including the U.S. Army dental command, you are a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and you were awarded the Legion of Merit the Bronze Star, and the Meritorious Service Medal. So wow, that's an awful lot. And we are lucky to have you with us today. Thank you, Ralph.
Dr. Ralph Ford:So when you went into dentistry, were you already thinking about the army? How did you end up in the army?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, I ended up in the Army as a venue to get to dental school because at the time, there was the health professions scholarship, and I wanted to show that I had the proclivity for military service, so that I could get the funds to go to dental school, which is very expensive. And good reason. My father was a faculty member here at Behrend, as you know. Maybe not the highest paying profession going, but unfortunately, Congress revoked that health professions scholarship program in the fall of my senior year. So I was already committed to military service, but I had no funds to go to dental school. But it's okay. So I worked my way through school and was looking forward to the time that I could come on active duty, have a decent salary, equal pay for equal work and a great career.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, were you from a military family?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Yes. My father was a World War II veteran. He started out as a seaman second class and was commissioned and retired after 27 years in the Navy, most of it in the Navy Reserve. My brother served in the Navy. My little sister went in the Army and I went in the Army because at that time, the Navy wasn't accepting women to go in Bluewater ships. So you could have shore duty or tender duty, but it was not as career enhancing. So I went in the Army.
Dr. Ralph Ford:So did you think you'd be in 33 years?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I think I forgot to get out.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Get out? Well, why you must find something you liked about it. What was rewarding about the work?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Everything. I mean, you moved every two to three years. I got to see the world thanks to the American population. I had met some great friends who are still friends today. So they're more like brothers and sisters, another another family and the Dental Corps. I think we reached the halcyon days of the Dental Corps. We were able to practice perfect dentistry on people who really deserved it because they bore the cloth of the nation without any cost to them.
Dr. Ralph Ford:That's a great place to be and how was how was it different from civilian dentistry? What we all encounter every day, the rest of us?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, the biggest thing is, is that there's no cost to the service member. And so we would see service people of all services depending on where you ... often things are of a joint nature, Navy, Air Force army. And like I said, a lot of a lot of travel so you on your downtime, it's nothing to go to France for breakfast, and your children will play soccer in Germany or England or Italy. You know, what kind of opportunity that is? I really do you think that military service builds better citizens?
Dr. Ralph Ford:How many do you keep track? How often did you move in the army?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I've really lost track I'd rather not. There was one year I was moving every year for six years.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Wow. And you were you're in combat you are in Desert Shield and Desert Storm and in fact, you served with the... and I want to make sure I get this right ... 257 Medical detachment in the Fifth Mobile Army surgical hospital.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:That's correct. Mobile surgical hospital. Little Known as M.A.S.H., so if you ever watched them.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Oh, all of us, yeah, we grew up in the 70s 80s. Okay, it's all we ever did was watch M.A.S.H.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:A lot of times, in the fifth M.A.S.H., it was not too far removed from that television program. I must say that we had our quirky people. But unfortunately M.A.S.H.es are no longer part of the inventory. They've been replaced with different kinds of deployable hospitals. But still, the concept is the same. Put medical capability far forward, so that you're able to take care of the wounded as expeditiously as possible because that's what preserves the life.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, can you talk? No, that's that's good perspective. It's they don't exist anymore. I didn't realize that. So tell us a little bit more, you know, give us a little color as to what it was like being in a M.A.S.H.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:257 Medical detachment, which is kind of a ghost unit. It's only filled with professional staff when the need arises. The need arose when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. So then I was detached from one my day job to take part in the 257. And because I had trained under the hospital staff that were embedded in at Fort Bragg, I was asked for by name to become part of fifth mash. So I was Dennis fulfilling the role of the oral surgeon because our oral surgeon had been elevated to being the vice commander, so to say, and I spent most of my time in the operating room not doing dentistry at all, but doing general surgery.
Dr. Ralph Ford:I'm gonna say, you were seeing cases of people who were, I'm sure, injured in a very serious way?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:For a very short period of time, in the beginning we were very bored. Because the combat operations were delayed for a while we were all kind of sitting in a ready mode. Of course, the the fear at the time was that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons that were going to be delivered by Scud missiles. So there was a lot of reactionary training on how we would handle mass casualties that way. And I hope your listeners are not squeamish, but I actually participated in doing some non-combat related surgeries. Like I've done, I've done a circumcision or two, I've done gynecomastia reduction, people can look that up on their medical dictionary. And some other things that when people get bored, they find other things to occupy their time. And the surgeons wanted to make sure that they were still capable of performing under fire. And then when the actual shooting took place, we did have a few Iraqi wounded that we took care of. But some civilian wounded as well Bedouins, who had wandered into minefields and had some very grievous wounds. So I got to do a lot of things that were not in the normal dental repertoire.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Yeah, for those of you know, who are younger listeners, and you brought back memories, I, you know, forgotten a lot of that. I remember actually, where I was when the first Gulf War started, I was working at IBM, and it just stuck in my mind, you know, Saddam Hussein invaded. And but it was really a long wait. It wasn't an immediate response. And you know, President Bush at that time, built this huge coalition. And there was this massive buildup of forces. And it was, frankly, a lot of waiting. The whole country was sitting on pins and needles.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Exactly. And you probably knew more about what's going on back here at home than we did there.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Yeah, that was the first time to that, I think, really, I don't know, it was the first time but every war, you know, the media seems to have a different increasing level of engagement and the Scud missiles and all of that, and that's the first time I remember, you'd see that on the news. And, you know, there were reporters out there and they became a pretty, you know, it was it was a big deal at that time. But it must take a you know, a big toll on people as well, who were working in your profession to be in that sort of an environment.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Especially in a prolonged environment. We saw that in the second Gulf War, where my position had changed and was more than a command and staff role. The concept of compassion fatigue, when you put professional staff there, where they see these, these grievous wounds. And they're doing what they can and meatball surgery to preserve life, hopefully evacuate the wounded back to sustained hospitals here in CONUS or in Germany, but they get torn up themselves psychologically.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Yeah, it's, it's got to be a difficult thing to get through. And you know, we appreciate that you and others have done this for our country for so long. And after you did that, though, you went on to lead the U.S. Army Dental Command or D.E.N. Com. And that was a big assignment that you administered the oral health care for the entire U.S. Army. So why don't you tell us about how did you end up in that role? And what what does that mean?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, it was it was the pinnacle of command assignment, and I was the first D.E.N. Com commander to be second selected by a board instead of appointed by the surgeon general or other leaders. So there was a peer review, essentially, that selected me to be the D.E.N. Com commander. So I feel honored about that. And it's a two year assignment. And you try to get as much done as you can in two years. And building on the foundation of a previous commanders, fitting the strategic vision of the Surgeon General at the time, because that's who my boss was.
Dr. Ralph Ford:I was gonna say, you've reported to the Surgeon
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:To the Surgeon General of the Army, General, right? which is a three star general. And oftentimes, it was a very fractious time this was, that in the few years afterwards, we were ramping up there were the rattling of battle drums was on the horizon with what was happening again, back in Southwest Asia. We were really concerned about the health of the Reserve components, those people who are in the National Guard and the Reserve, and how do you respond to that? So we had a lot to do with policy, and then delivering dental care to our Reserve components.
Dr. Ralph Ford:So just give us a timeframe. When were you in charge of D.E.N. Com?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:From 2010 to 2012.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Wow. Okay. So you were overseeing D.E.N. Com? You were managing an awful lot of people. How?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I didn't do it by myself.
Dr. Ralph Ford:You didn't do it by yourself. But in theory, they all reported to you. I'm sure you had a large structure to do that. But give us an idea of scope and scale.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, all of the world was divided up in regional commands. So we had seven regional commanders and beneath them would be the dental activities themselves, which were spread out over a region. For example, when I had had a previous command and the North Atlantic regional dental command, headquartered at Walter Reed, but I was dual-hatted as the den tech commander of Walter Reed. So we had Walter Reed Hospital. We also had a clinic down at Fort Belvoir, but my scope ranged from West Point in New York, you're familiar with, all the way south to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and as far west as Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
Dr. Ralph Ford:What did you like about the job?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:A lot of travel. So I've gotten a lot of frequent flyer miles. And every region is different. I really enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the commanders I worked with. I enjoyed the mentorship, being able to provide mentorship to more junior enlisted and junior officers. I think that's what makes command so rewarding.
Dr. Ralph Ford:When you say you got frequent flyer miles I just want to ask, did they put you on commercial airlines or were you flying on the military planes?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Very seldom military aircraft. Usually commercial aircraft. when I was in Alaska as the D.E.N. tech commander there, I did get to fly in the general's jet back and forth between Fort Richardson which is in Anchorage to Fort Wainwright, which is in Fairbanks. That's over 415 ground miles. But it makes it easy when you go by jet.
Dr. Ralph Ford:I must tell you, I think I've told you, I have a good friend who was at West Point. And he tells me the stories about how they sent him to Iraq. And it didn't sound too glamorous in the back of some of those cargo planes that he would go on at the last moment. So that's my vision of what what happens. You know, I imagine it's really hard to you know, everywhere. It's difficult to recruit good talent. So how does the army, particularly in a specialty like dentistry, which you know, it's a competitive. Anyone go out there and create their own practice at any time? So was it challenging to find good people, so to speak, and keep them engaged in the army?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Very good question. First of all, that health professions scholarship program that I mentioned at the beginning, was reinstated, because we needed to develop our professional staff. So that is a very, very generous scholarship. It pays for all of their tuition, instruments and books plus a stipend that's quite generous by my standards. And after their four years of dental school, they enter into the Army as a captain, so they're earning captain's pay. And eventually the big attractant there to keep them on the service is the potential for specialty training, residency training. And the army will offer that, as does all of the services in all of the dental specialties: oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, comprehensive dentistry. Which is when I am sort of like your internal medicine physician. And it's that's a relatively rare specialty in the civilian sector still, but in enables you with advanced skills to be able to be deployed anywhere and take care of whatever's going across your path.
Dr. Ralph Ford:That sounds like a fantastic opportunity.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:It is and it still exists today.
Dr. Ralph Ford:It does. And if somebody were interested, they could contact you?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:They could and I will direct them to the medical recruiter who will get them hooked up.
Dr. Ralph Ford:All right, so let's go to the medical recruiter first.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, the medical recruiter and they can go to goarmy.com and search medical and health professions scholarships, and they will be contacted with an Army Medical Department recruiter.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, excellent. Let's back up a bit. And we didn't talk much about your time here at Penn State Behrend, but before you earned your dental degree, it all started here. You grew up in Harborcreek, so you're back to your home stomping grounds. And before you got your bachelor of science degree from the university. You started here at Behrend. Why did you come to Behrend and what was it like that?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, I grew up about four miles from here. If I rolled all the way downhill and ended up at the entrance to Behrend college. And my father was on faculty and continuing education. Both of my parents are Penn State graduates. My grandfather was a wide supporter of Penn State. And so starting at a very young age, I was indoctrinated that I was going to be going to Penn State. So for financial reasons, it made sense to come to Behrend. And I loved my time here. I got to play volleyball. I was in the chamber orchestra. I wasn't involved in student government. My focus was really then ROTC because I was always building to that goal of getting into dental school, and how I was going to pay for that. But I my first love, though, was really being in the army.
Dr. Ralph Ford:It was. So you helped to create ROTC here, did
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I did, we did not have it in 1974 when you? I started here. So I took my first ROTC courses at Gannon. And then the army assigned the initial cadre here. First, we were working out of that garage that was opposite of Kochel. On the other issues. Now, that's all gone. And then we were in the basement of this building for a while. And, of course, it's been moved all around ever since then. It's a little dank and dark down there.
Dr. Ralph Ford:That's why I tell people this right below the very space where we're sitting, right below my office, is where Army ROTC was at once? Well, for what it's worth, if you were to be in the basement of this old building, that would actually be the best place, the most modern part of the building. Now we've cut it up. And you know, it's not the big open room that it was before. But anyways, how about but it sounds like you knew not only that you were interested in an army career. But did you know early on that you were interested in dentistry?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, again, I go back to my maternal grandfather that was telling me I was going to be a doctor, and all of these little stories and vignettes about being a doctor. And then it's, at the time when you're applying for college, you had to get a certificate of your health. So I walked into Dr. Van Martyr and Dr. Van Damme his office, they were my physicians, and there were sick people all over the place. You know, snotty noses coughing, and the staff was overworked and disgruntled. And it was just not real pleasant. Then you walk into Dr. Michaels office, my dentist, and there's a nice aquarium. And it smells a little bit like Clorox and the dental hygienist and the office manager is very pleasant. It's kind of like I like the structured life. So and you still get to be called Doctor. Although, often the medical world doesn't consider a dentist as professional peers. That's okay. We know our place. And so it was a perfect fit for me. There's a lot of art involved in dentistry, which I really appreciate. There's a lot of psychology, you can have the best hands in the world, but if your patient won't sit in the chair, it's all for naught. And it was a great fit for me in the army.
Dr. Ralph Ford:and you might sit there three hours before the doctor who was meeting everybody for everything and everyone was caught. Versus, yeah, the dentist's office, hands down was a better experience. You know, frankly, doctor's office are a lot better now than they used to be when you walk in the front door. So, well, that's it. So you knew what you wanted to do. And you came here to Behrend. And now after all of these years, you've come back, you've retired and and when you came back into the area, you came to campus and said, hey, I'd like to get involved. And we're very grateful for that. You're a member of the Council of Fellows board of directors, which is a really important advisory group for us. So what made you decide to do that? Was it just happenstance you saw the campus here are pretty intentional about it?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I think I got shanghaied by Margie Taylor, first to get involved with the development committee. And then from that stemmed an appointment on at the Council of Fellows. And I take those duties very seriously. I am so enthused about where Erie is positioned right now, having left here been away for 30 Some years and then you come back. There's a sense of urgency, anticipation and hope, I think is what how I would describe it. And it's fun to be part of that as we shape the future. And I really feel strongly that Behrend, no pun intended, with the Keystone State is a lynchpin in this whole endeavor.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, thank you. And I mean, you've been very active and our board has been supportive and driving of the activities that we do. And everything from social economic development, the work we do at CORE, we could go on and on and on. And I know that you're very passionate about that. So tell me, you know, before you came on to the Council of Fellows board, and now that you're on, how has your perspective changed about what Behrend does?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I'm even more enthused, I mean, there's so much improvement technology, where you have a wide range of interests that were infused we're connected with. And I think it's all for the good. I'm very excited about what's happening with Eagle's Nest. I'm excited about what's happening environmentally, with Project Resolve, with the MWRI, the ability to now bring high tech, biotech, and things that are going to really change the world right here in our backyard. And people tend to dismiss Erie in here. Just recently, were named the number one best small city in the country. I think that's a wonderful thing to crow about.
Dr. Ralph Ford:We need to get that word out, we are the number one best small city. I can tell you, I travel, but it's always great to be back here. And people underestimate just how wonderful this place is. And we're happy to be part of it. And I'd be remiss not to mention, you know, that Margie Taylor had an important role in bringing you in. Margie was our Director of Development and always connecting us with people in the community, many of whom have gone on to do great things for us. So she really played an important role in there. And we'll make sure she gets this podcast.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:That'll be great.
Dr. Ralph Ford:So one of the areas, though, that you are particularly involved in is a group that we created in 2020, known as the Women's Engagement Council. Tell us what is the Women's Engagement Council? Who is it made up of? What do you do? What's your mission?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, we're made up of staff and faculty and friends of Behrend, and our council is growing. We're modeling ourselves after the Council of Fellows. So we do have a board of directors and then an enlarging Council, we just brought in over a dozen new members, to include community members and some young alums. And even though we're all made up of women, right now, it is not exclusively by women. But it is for women, to advance women in leadership, to provide positive role models, to bring women's issues to the forefront as points of discussion and communication and education. So I think it's got an important role as to leverage the endeavors that are already on campus. So sometimes we're not recreating the wheel, we're just helping to spur things along.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, you've already done so many things. Recently, you gave out the first Mary Baron Impact Award to our board chair, and Scott. So what's the idea behind this new award that you created?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, that stemmed from the Women of Impact Award that had been at the University and then went fallow. And so we built on that foundation and tweaked it a little bit. And in the spirit of Mary Behrends philanthropic efforts and her community engagement. That's sort of the tenants of what will be the award winner for the Mary Behrend Impact Award. Not isolated to be conferred to a woman and to anyone who had is committed to Behrend who's committed to advancing women's issues and creating those opportunities for women to thrive.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, I think it was great the selection of Ann Scott as the first recipient. Will you agree?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Yeah.
Dr. Ralph Ford:And you also have created a 5k Women's run?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:That's correct. That was our first major event last August. It's on deck again for this coming August 27. It was very well attended for its first year. And so that's our commitment to activity and health. And it's open to men and women. So it runs right up here in Knowledge Park, which is a beautiful route. So we're looking forward to that. And next week, next Wednesday, we have our first signature major speaker event, the Blue Chair Chat.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Yeah, the Blue Chair Chat. Tell us about that.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Well, that will feature Ashley Walters. She and her husband owned Onyx Corporation here in Erie. It is now an employee-owned company. She was the former president. They've moved out of state, but she represents, she's a chemical engineer. She's an author that wrote the book Leading With Grit and Grace. She is a company executive. And it's not in something that you would think is fluffy. They build industrial furnaces for a variety of industries. And she's a mom, and she's also a parental caregiver. So she covers a lot of the bases that I think human beings would be interested in hearing her speak.
Dr. Ralph Ford:I think so. And I'm looking forward to it. And I personally know Ashley, and she is just, you know, a phenom. I think a chemical engineering degree running Onyx. Now they have sold it as of late. She's the author of the book Leading With Grit and Grace, which has a lot of wisdom in it. And I'm sure whatever her next venture in life, it will be exciting. So she's she's just a great achiever and supporter of Behrend as well. And also, by the way, a member of our board of directors. So that's just great to see. So how will you know what success looks like for the Women's Engagement Council?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I think as people turn to WEC for support in their own endeavors, as we grow our council, as we continue to link with existing programs on campus. I think that's when we're going to get, I don't want to say notoriety, but just recognition. And we couldn't thrive without the support of all of the schools here on Penn State Behrend. So we're also looking at ways of giving back in the future.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Oh, that's great. Well, we're coming to the end of our programs. Let me finish up with this question for you. As I said earlier, in 2019, you were named an Alumni Fellow. And I will tell you, that was a really special ceremony, by the way, that was just for those who are in our listening audience, you can actually Google it and go see it on YouTube and see your acceptance speech. It was the best of the night, and I'm not biased at all, but it really was. And everyone, I'm sure will agree with that. But it was it was great. But in the years since, you've been really active and engaged with Behrend. Why do you feel the need to give back and what do you take away from this yourself?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I strongly believe that we are all called to serve. And I was just led here.
Dr. Ralph Ford:That's simple. That's simple.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Yeah.
Dr. Ralph Ford:It's great that you're in a position where you can do that. Well, is there anything else you would like to add before we we finish up here today?
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:I just hope that the students and the parents of students here at Penn State Behrend appreciate what a jewel they have in their backyard. I'm a very proud Penn State Behrend alum. Even though I did receive my degree from the University Park campus, my heart belongs to Behrend.
Dr. Ralph Ford:Well, it's all part of Penn State. We appreciate the very kind words about Behrend. It is truly a special place and you've been a great guest. I've enjoyed the conversation. I am Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend and you have been listening to Behrend Talks. My guest today was Dr. Priscilla Hamilton, a retired U.S. Army colonel and Behrend alumna.
Dr. Priscilla Hamilton:Thank you.
Dr. Ralph Ford:You're welcome.