Free lunches and student involvement.

: Dental students have precious little free time, so the challenge of promoting involvement in discussion about issues that affect their future becomes one of many priorities. The staple in schools has been the free lunch with an invited speaker, and that has not worked well. At the University of Southern California (USC) dental school we experimented with making time and opportunity for students to engage multiple outside parties on a single topic, initial licensure. This case describes a much more engaged study response.