"The campus at that time was a couple of buildings and nothing else, but I fell in love with it... The teachers and students were together like a small family. Everyone knew you by name. I'm serious! You'd walk through campus and your teachers would say, 'Hi, how are you? What are you taking this semester?' That¹s what I loved about UMBC when I was there - it was like a family."

UMBC: You are originally from Vietnam, which is certainly a long way from UMBC. How did you end up in Baltimore in general and at UMBC specifically?

Dr. Jeffrey: It's kind of a funny story for people who know it. I grew up in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and in 1971 I followed in my older brothers' footsteps by going to Switzerland to attend the University of Lausanne. I had a cousin here [in Maryland] and, during winter vacation in 1975, she asked me to visit. So I came over here and a little vacation extended longer because my cousin was lonely and asked us (my younger sister and I) to stay a little longer. So both of us stayed with her, and when Saigon fell to the Communists we both said, 'Oh my God, we have no passport to go back to Switzerland,' because we were not Swiss citizens, just exchange students there. But my cousin thought it was a good sign because now we could stay with her and keep her company!

At that time, my cousin lived in Towson so she said we had the choice to go to Towson or UMBC or University of Maryland at College Park. We drove to UMBC and the campus at that time was a couple of buildings and nothing else, but I fell in love with it. It was nothing impressive, but the people who greeted me were so nice, that impressed me.

UMBC: Was it difficult for you to be a student of Vietnamese descent at that time?

Dr. Jeffrey: It was a struggle to go through Immigration each month because they didn't know how to classify us. We didn't come as refugees, we came as visitors. After three months of battling, they finally told us the best thing for us to do was to take the status of a refugee. But other than that, the hardest thing was learning English with a Baltimore accent! I had studied English and French in Vietnam, but from British and French teachers! The students were having fun having a foreigner coming over because they could teach us local English, especially the slang, and they had a good time doing it.

UMBC: When you think back to your time at UMBC, do you have a particularly fond memory?

Dr. Jeffrey: It was fun in the way that my college days were the times when I learned to speak English fluently. I had a background in science and biology so it was easy for me to pick up the studies, but it was hard, in the beginning, for me to pick up the professors' teachings. It was a hard road, learning English, but the fun part was that every teacher was so eager to teach and to lead you to what you wanted to do. There was a lot of encouragement that made the road less bumpy.

UMBC: How did you become interested in a career in dentistry?

Dr. Jeffrey: One of my brothers is a dentist in Switzerland, so I knew what dentistry was all about, but Dr. Schwartz, who was the Dean of Biology at that time, was very eager to lead us and help us to get to where we wanted to go. If you wanted to go to medical school or dental school, he'd lead you there.

UMBC: When you look at UMBC now, what do you think of the changes on campus?

Dr. Jeffrey: It has changed in every aspect, I guess. I came back to the campus recently once when I took my older son to pick up his college information to see what UMBC had to offer. The subjects they have nowadays have developed so much. The kids have a wide variety of things to choose from on campus ­ not in our days. Even the computers - my God! - they are so advanced. Then it was very old fashioned. And we didn't even have an auditorium like they do now, but it's great for the students now who are at UMBC.

UMBC: Since it wasn't a large campus when you were there, what was it that gave you a fond feeling about your time at UMBC?

Dr. Jeffrey: It was a small campus and on a small campus you know everybody. You know your classmates and you know your teachers so well that it's a good time. I always have a good feeling towards UMBC because we were so close. I'm still fond of UMBC because of those times that the teachers and students were together like a small family. Everyone knew you by name. I'm serious! You'd walk through campus and your teachers would say, 'Hi, how are you? What are you taking this semester?' That's what I loved about UMBC when I was there ­ it was like a family.

UMBC: After you graduated from the University of Maryland Dental School, what appealed to you about that career, aside from your family connection?

Dr. Jeffrey: I'm very good with my hands. I used to take watercolor painting at UMBC and I can paint. I wanted to use my hands to work and dentistry, to me, is neat because you can create something. You can carve an amalgam like a piece of art. Some people are very artistic and I'm one of those. I also enjoy the human interaction. I enjoy seeing my patients at the mall, the supermarket, and local restaurants.

Dentistry has a lot of science but it is also an art. And you also have the ability to communicate with people, and that makes it pleasant. It's the relationship between the doctor and the patients and the pleasure to see how pleased they are [with what you've done] and have them give you a hug and say 'thank you.' That's the primary thing that keeps me going, is that relationship. Otherwise, after 22 years of dentistry, I might hang it up.

UMBC: What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?

Dr. Jeffrey: My family! I have a husband who is a successful investment advisor and two boys, one is now a college freshman and the other is an 8th grader, and I care for my mother who lives with me. I also love to play golf. Years ago I played tennis, but now I play golf because it's more relaxing for me. And I do a lot of boating. We have our own boat and enjoy boating on the Chesapeake Bay.