USD Magazine Fall 2019

CHRIS PARK

[ s a g a ]

by Andrew Faught A Pract icing shutt le diplomacy behind the Iron Curtain C I T I Z E N O F T H E WO R L D s the United States and the Soviet Union gritted their teeth through the

quently received commendations from the Russian and Czech dental associations — and from other countries — for her work to improve dental care. She was held in such high esteem that she even collaborated with the Far East Russian minister of health to help bring a sick child to the U.S. for treatment. She’d go on to assist three more Rus- sians seeking American care. In May 2019, in honor of her achievements, Pietrok was knighted in Rome by Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici, descendent of the famous Italian banking family and political dynasty. Pietrok recounts her experi-

manufacturer A-dec, Pietrok in- troduced state-of-the-art dental equipment to 16 Eastern bloc nations unaccustomed to West- ern enterprise and technology. Business, she says, “was consid- ered a dirty word.” But Pietrok practiced her own brand of shuttle diplomacy — skills formed in part by her time at USD — to open new markets.

“I gained the people’s respect as they recognized that I was there, not just for selling, but to help them,” she says. “When you have a liberal arts education, you have a better understanding of humankind and how to relate to people.” While the Cold War was char- acterized by suspicion, Pietrok avoided intrigue. She subse-

Cold War, Maria Teresa (Carras- co) Pietrok ’66 (BA) was creating smiles behind the Iron Curtain, the onetime figurative barrier between communism and capi- talist democracies in the West. As an export manager for Oregon-based dental equipment

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