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UMKC Selects Paul Luepke as Dean of School of Dentistry

UMKC announced Paul Luepke will serve as the new UMKC dean of the School of Dentistry on June 1. FILE PHOTO.

Posted April 16, 2025

UMKC has selected Paul Luepke to be its new dean of the School of Dentistry following a national search.

Luepke will begin his new role effective June 1, according to a release. He will help lead the school, the only public dental school in Missouri and Kansas, with clinics providing more than 70,000 patient visits and $500,000 in uncompensated care per year. Luepke is replacing Russell Melchert, dean of the UMKC School of Pharmacy, who has been serving as interim dean of the School of Dentistry since November.

“We are happy to welcome Dr. Luepke, an oral healthcare leader at both the university and national levels,” Provost Jenny Lundgren said in the release. “His leadership will be a great asset not only to the School of Dentistry but to UMKC in our dedication to excellence.”

He will also help UMKC in its transition to the new Healthcare Delivery and Innovation building in 2026 and will take the lead on the proposed expansion of the School of Dentistry to a satellite campus in St. Joseph.

Luepke comes from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he has held leadership and faculty positions since 2020. He most recently served as associate dean of faculty affairs, interim associate dean for clinical and extramural affairs and chair of periodontology in the College of Dentistry.

Prior to that, he also served in leadership roles in the Marquette University School of Dentistry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for nearly 11 years. He is currently the director and president of the American Board of Periodontology and serves on the board of the Commission on Dental Accreditation, or CODA.

“I look forward to leading the UMKC School of Dentistry, which has a passionate alumni base across the nation,” Luepke said in the release. “There is incredible forward momentum at this world-class university, and I’m committed to collaborating with campus and community leaders in service to the region.”

He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Monmouth College in Illinois and with a Doctor of Dental Surgery from University of Illinois Chicago School of Dentistry.