YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown State University’s Madeleine Haggerty Dental Hygiene Program will celebrate 50 years of educating dental hygiene professionals with an open house and reception at noon Oct. 23 in Cushwa Hall.
The celebration will bring together alumni and community partners to reconnect with former classmates, family and friends and honor the program’s history and lasting impact. Guests can also tour the program’s facilities and meet people who have helped the program grow over the years.
Register for the event online by Oct. 2.
The program’s story began in 1975, when Madeline Haggerty developed a two-year dental hygiene program. YSU began accepting applications that December for the first class, which started in fall 1976. The program was designed to prepare dental hygienists and offer qualifying dental assistants a path to improve their skills. The first class of 30 students graduated in 1978.
Haggerty helped build the program as its coordinator and professor. It was the first program offered in YSU’s Allied Health Department, where Haggerty served as chair until 1996. In 2000, the program was officially named in her honor. Haggerty described developing the program as “a privilege,” and she retired after 38 years of service to YSU in 2013.
Over the decades, the program continued to expand. YSU added a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene in the 2012-13 academic year. Then, in 2014, the university constructed a dental-hygiene clinic for students to practice providing real dental care to patients in the community.