It’s not every day that an Environmental Health undergraduate determines his next career step is dental school, but in the case of Dr. Russell Castner, that’s precisely what happened. The 1971 graduate in Environmental Health surveyed the landscape of career opportunities and decided dentistry was a better option.
“At that time in the 1970s, the government was really the only option for employment, and there were not many jobs available,” Dr. Castner explained. “Dentistry was always in the back of my mind and I had been accepted into the UW Dental Program, so I decided it was the road to take.”
However, through the decades of cavities, crowns and root canals, Dr. Castner never stopped thinking about his health studies in clean water and clean air. His commitment and support of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) has continued over the years. In 2007 he made a contribution to establish the Russell L. Castner Endowed Research Fund. “I knew graduate work would’ve been my next move, so I thought I could support the next generation of grad students. The faculty were so dedicated to the students and worked tirelessly to build the department. I was in one of the first graduating classes of the School of Public Health, and I wanted to see it continue to grow. I had such good experiences working with faculty like Jack Hatlen and Peter Breysse that I knew I wanted to give back to the department.”
Support from the Castner endowment has been a huge benefit to its most recent recipients, Victoria Balta and Jane Pouzou. Their awards enabled them to travel to conferences this summer that they would not have been able to afford. “These funds allowed both students to have experiences on a national level and brought their work outside the walls of the Health Sciences building,” said Mike Yost, Chair of DEOHS.
As Dr. Castner nears retirement, he and his wife Svanee are looking forward to following the success of students who have received their endowment support and to meeting new students every year.
“There are plenty of alumni to support the School of Dentistry and of course I do, too,” said Dr. Castner, “but I know my support of students working in SPH around clean air and clean water helps us all.”