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On October 6, 2000, the University
of Detroit Mercy celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary
of the Dental Hygiene Program at the beautiful MeadowBrook
Hall in Rochester, Michigan.
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Judy Kwapis-Jaeger DH ‘73
Laura Manning Lee DH ‘94
Kathy Brodie Neveu DH ‘88
Judi Konopka Luxmore DH ‘69
Kathi Ray Shepherd DH ‘82
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The program was started in 1950
with space allocated in the Children's Clinic of the
Dental School at 625 East Jefferson in Detroit. A $60,000
grant from the Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan
was awarded for this endeavor. Armed with the encouragement
of his colleagues, and a two-year curriculum, Dr. John
Greene accepted thirteen young women into the program.
Mary Lou Weishaar Mantho Olszewski, DH '52, remembers
Dr. Greene as a gentle and kindly man. He taught beginning
clinical skills on a machine of his own design, called
“The Greene's Trainer”, which would be used for many
years thereafter.
In 1963, the Dental School and
Clinic Building, known as Dinan Hall at 625 East Jefferson,
was sold to the State of Michigan to make way for the
Chrysler Expressway. The school was relocated one mile
east, to 2985 East Jefferson at McDougal, to the former
Chrysler Public Relations Building. In 1965, the Maxon
buildings to the west of the school were purchased by
the Alumni to be used for Library, Administrative, and
Continuing Education facilities. Shortly thereafter,
the nursing home to the east was purchased to expand
the educational facilities.
In 1990, the University merged
with Mercy College of Detroit and became known as the
University of Detroit Mercy. In 1997, a state-of-the-art
Patient Care Clinic was opened at Mercy College's original
campus at Seven-Mile and Outer Drive. All Dental related
programs are taught there.
In the last fifty years,
the University of Detroit Mercy has graduated one thousand
four hundred and eighty-one women and five men from
its Dental Hygiene Program. With its reputation for
excellence in clinical and didactic education, the program
is in great demand with five applicants for each of
its thirty positions yearly. Currently, there is a three-year
certificate program and a four-year baccalaureate degree
program available. In both programs, the dental hygiene
phase has been expanded from four to six semesters.
A degree completion program is also offered to dental
hygienists who return to complete their bachelor's degree.
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