Dental Hygiene Alumni Gather for Program's 30th Anniversary
Friday, May 29, 2009
Penn College's dental hygiene major celebrated its 30th anniversary Friday, three decades during which 939 bachelor's and associate degrees were awarded to 774 graduates and the program's first instructor rose to become the institution's president. More than 130 alumni attended the daylong observance, which offered continuing education; lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant; dessert and reminiscence with President Davie Jane Gilmour (whose memories included teaching oral anatomy in the geology lab during the program's earliest days); the opportunity for former classmates to pore, laugh and wince over yearbooks and old photographs; and a Hiawatha riverboat cruise. Representatives of nearly every class were on hand, from 10 members of the inaugural Class of 1979 (including one who traveled from Maine) to 2009 grad Kelly A. Braun, a commencement speaker earlier this month.