Joanne Fox: Celebrating a Lifetime of Service

By Christina Boufis

When Joanne Fox started working at the dental school in October 1981, the world was a different place. There were no laptop computers or email. Her work was done on an electric typewriter and by snail mail. The school had yet to be named after its long-serving and beloved dean, Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni ’48.

Fox found the temporary data entry position in the Public Relations and Development Office through a friend who worked in the Financial Aid Office. A native San Franciscan, she didn’t realize that University of Pacific had a dental school in the city before she accepted the job. 

Two weeks before her temporary position ended, Al Gilmour, assistant dean, impressed by her efficiency and hard work, hired Fox permanently. “From the beginning, I felt very comfortable at the school and fit right in,” Fox says. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Eighteen months later, Dean Dugoni asked Fox to join him and Dr. David Nielsen ’67, assistant dean of administration and newly named executive director of the Alumni Association, in the Dean’s Office. For many years, it was just Nielsen as executive director and Fox as coordinator running the Alumni Association.

Forty-three years after her first temporary position, Fox retired in August 2025 as director of the Alumni Association. Throughout the years, she rose from coordinator to assistant director to director of the Alumni Association in 2016. 

“Throughout her tenure, Joanne has collaborated with countless alumni, board members, faculty, staff, students and residents, helping to shape the strongest dental school alumni organization anywhere in the country,” says Dr. Elisa M. Chávez, interim dean, professor and director of the Pacific Center for Equity in Oral Health Care.

What made Fox want to stay and make a career at the dental school? “It was the people I worked with,” she says. “Everyone was so kind to me and really did take me under their wings, especially Dr. Dugoni. He was a great mentor to many of us, a surrogate father to me and such a brilliant man. Dr. Leroy Cagnone ’59 trusted me with the financial books of the Alumni Association. I became good friends with Dr. Bob Christoffersen ’67 and made friends with several other faculty, administrators, staff and alumni.”

One friendship that turned into courtship and then marriage was with Dr. Michael Fox ’82. She met Michael, a third-year dental student at the time, during the Asilomar Retreat in 1982. The two are happily married and have three daughters, Denise, Alanna and Justine, and recently welcomed their first grandchild. 

For many alumni, Fox became the face of the dental school—the warm voice on the phone, the smiling person who greeted them at events, always remembering their names and faces.

“A major part of my job was the personal interaction,” Fox says, “getting to know people through one-on-one meetings, by phone or just emails over the years. These relationships were a very rewarding part of the job.”

Fox’s warmth and genuineness is one of the first things people notice about her. “She always has a smile on her face,” says Dr. Jamie Sahouria ’04, president of the Alumni Association from 2022 to 2023. “If you mention her name to any of the alumni, they would say, ‘That’s the person we went to when we had a question about anything related to our school. She’s been like a walking encyclopedia of our school and our alumni.”

Her colleagues agree. “Joanne is one of the most engaging people I met at Pacific, actually anywhere” says Dr. Eddie Hayashida, former associate dean for administration, who started working at the school in 1979. “I’m fortunate that she’s become one of my best friends.”

Joanne has this incredible ability to combine professionalism with warmth. She treats everyone—whether it’s faculty, staff, students or alumni—with such genuine respect and helps to create an atmosphere where we feel valued as members of the Alumni Association and members of the Dugoni School family.

— Dr. Jamie Sahouria ’04

Hayashida adds, “In addition to being such a good friend, Joanne was incredibly good at her job. She was very detail-oriented and focused on the school.”

“I’ve known Joanne for 30-plus years,” says Dr. William van Dyk ’73, a long-time member of the Alumni Association board and faculty member at the dental school. “I was treasurer of the Alumni Association, and she made my job so easy that I was embarrassed to call myself treasurer. She just knew exactly what to keep track of, what not to worry about and made everything run so smoothly.”

During the past four decades, Fox led or supported numerous signature events for the school, including the Annual Alumni Meeting, Asilomar Retreat, Faculty Retreat, OKU Convocation, VIP Graduation Luncheon, First-Year Welcome, Alumni/Graduate Banquet and other regional alumni events. 

“She and her team played a key role in getting alumni together and helping them stay connected to the school and each other,” says Chávez.

With Fox at the helm, “You never had to worry about how an event was going to turn out,” says Hayashida, “because Joanne had thought of everything, kept everybody informed and had incredible initiative and follow through.”

The large events were some of the highlights of Fox’s career as well. “I’ve always loved our Annual Alumni Meeting,” she says, “because it brings people back together, and they’re always so happy to see each other. And then there’s the Alumni/Graduate Banquet, which is a really an important night because it’s the last time the graduating class will all be together when they’re not distracted by graduation day.” 

In addition to her work with alumni, Fox has also been recognized with numerous honors. She is a Medallion of Distinction Award recipient—the highest honor given by the Alumni Association—and an honorary member of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon and the Tau Kappa Omega dental honor societies. She continues to serve on the Admissions Interview Committee and participate on the editorial board for Contact Point magazine during her retirement.

“A major part of my job was the personal interaction,” Fox says, “getting to know people through one-on-one meetings, by phone or just emails over the years. These relationships were a very rewarding part of the job.”

And while working for the Alumni Association, she even went back to school part-time to earn a bachelor’s degree in 2023 from University of the Pacific. “It was always on my mind to go back and finish my degree,” Fox says, who left her studies at San Francisco State University to get married after completing her junior year.

While the degree meant many months of staying up until midnight writing papers, “It was a great experience,” Fox says. “I met people I never would have encountered in my life.”

It was Fox’s warmth and approachability that made an impact on Dr. Nava Fathi ’05, regent of University of the Pacific and former president of the Alumni Association. In fact, in 2006 when Fathi was invited to run for president of the Alumni Association board—her dream volunteer position—it was Fox who she turned to for advice.

“I vividly remember going to her office with tears in my eyes to tell Joanne that I was sorry, but I couldn’t fulfill my presidential duties because I was pregnant with twins,” says Fathi.

She recalls that Joanne looked at her for a moment and said, “Nava, if you don’t do it now, you’re never going to do it. This is the time, and I have your back.” 

Fathi accepted the position and had a very successful year. “I have to thank Joanne for giving me the power to believe in myself that I could do it,” she says. 

She also learned from Fox the importance of seeing each and every alumnus as not just a name but a person with a family, kids and a life outside of dentistry. “She just taught us to be human if you will, to care for each other on a very different level,” says Fathi. “It’s not superficial with Joanne. She genuinely knows and cares about each and every person. She literally probably knows all 9,000 alumni!” 

In 2009, when Fathi accepted the post as regent for the university, Fox was one of the first people to call and congratulate her. “Joanne has always been the strong woman at the Dugoni School that other women need and can lean on,” Fathi says. “I truly feel inspired by her. She’s an amazing person, friend, mom, wife and an amazing everything.”

Her colleagues say similar things. “One of the things about Joanne is that she could mix friendship with professionalism better than anybody I’ve ever met,” says van Dyk. “She made each person on the Alumni Association board feel special as a person and also helped everybody do a better job.” 

Sahouria, past president of the Alumni Association, agrees. “Joanne has this incredible ability to combine professionalism with warmth,” she says. “She treats everyone—whether it’s faculty, staff, students or alumni—with such genuine respect and helps to create an atmosphere where we feel valued as members of the Alumni Association and members of the Dugoni School family.”

When she was newly elected president of the Alumni Association, Sahouria recalls that it was Fox who offered to drive to her office, an hour away, to meet up. “We went out to lunch and she listened to the things that I hoped to accomplish, and she took a lot of notes. And I thought to myself, ‘Wow. She’s taking me seriously and she really wants my goals to come to fruition,’” says Sahouria. 

“I think Joanne deserves the biggest thanks in the world from our alumni and from our school,” Sahouria says. “She’s really created a legacy of giving back, whether it’s in time or talent. She embodies what it means to be a Dugoni School family member and all of the characteristics we try to teach our students—the spirit of excellence, service beyond self, humanism and a deep respect for others.”

In addition to her work with the Alumni Association, Fox has served as a valuable—and memorable—member of the Admissions Interview Committee. As usual, she brought her signature warmth to the interview process. 

“I walked into the interview nervous, and worried about what the interview would be like,” says Brenden Weaver, a current student in the Class of 2027. “Within minutes, Joanne helped me feel welcome, at ease and confident. Throughout the interview, she connected with me, told me about the school and took the time to sincerely get to know me. The interview experience that Joanne created for me demonstrated the depth of the humanistic culture that makes the Dugoni School family special, confirming to me that there was nowhere else I would rather attend dental school.”

What’s next for Fox after retirement? She plans to travel, including frequent trips to Los Angeles to spend time with her grandson, remodel a bathroom, clear out closets and the garage, catch up with friends and seek volunteer opportunities in her neighborhood—and take her dog on longer walks more often too.

How to summarize a career that has spanned decades and changed the lives of so many people? For her lifetime of service, genuine warmth and devotion to the school, Sahouria sums it up best, “I think it’s important to thank her and really recognize the legacy that she’s leaving behind.”

“We’re really going to miss her,” says van Dyk. “We wish Joanne all the best in her next chapter.”

Christina Boufis, PhD, is a freelance health and medical writer from the East Bay.