DCG Designs Alumni Symbols

Dr. Michael Ridlehoover has boundless pride in his alma mater’s internationally renowned reputation.

Thanks to him, he and his fellow alumni can now demonstrate that pride everywhere they go.

Ridlehoover, who graduated from DCG in 2017, met with Dean Carol A. Lefebvre a couple of years ago to pitch an idea close to his heart. “We’d just changed our name [to The Dental College of Georgia],” he says, “so I thought it would be fitting to have our own symbol and own identity.”

The symbol Ridlehoover had in mind was one that would enable DCG alumni to recognize each other at a glance, helping cement bonds with old friends and forge instant connections with new ones. “I wanted us to have a class ring,” he says.

Lefebvre loved the idea and immediately set it in motion, forming a committee to draft a design. She had previously also formed a committee to create a seal for the newly renamed college, and Ridlehoover was appointed to sit on both.

Ridlehoover, an Augusta native, drew on several sources of expertise as he served on the committees. For instance, he’s always been an avid woodworker. “I was self-taught, basically through trial and error,” he says. “I like the challenge of imagining something, then making it become a reality.”

He’s had professional experience with design as well. “I’ve done some graphic design in the past,” he says.

In designing both the seal and the ring, he drafted several ideas. Then he and his fellow committee members passed the concepts along to students, seeing what they liked and incorporating their feedback and ideas.