Renowned Dental Hygiene Program Prepares to Close

The Dental Hygiene Program at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles—one of the most highly regarded baccalaureate programs in the United States—has announced that its final class will graduate in 2021. The program began educating future dental hygienists in 1928 as a 2-year curriculum, moving to a baccalaureate-only program in 1962. 

The university cited the opening of other associate- and baccalaureate-dental hygiene programs at a much lower price point as impacting the viability of the dental hygiene program. Average tuition without financial aid at USC is more than $59,000 per year. 

Diane Melrose, RDH, BS, MA, director of the program, also noted that USC’s general admission standards had consistently become more selective, which hampered the ability of some students to matriculate. When asked about the program closure, Melrose told Dimensions, “I am very honored to have been part of the program for 46 years. I want to thank the faculty for their dedication and commitment to the program and profession.”  

USC’s Dental Hygiene Program has graduated many accomplished dental hygienists, including Anna M. Pattison, RDH, MS, who went on to become chair of the department from 1984 to 1989, and is Dimensions of Dental Hygiene’s editor emerita. The co-authors of this issue’s instrumentation article —Joan Beleno Sanchez, RDH, BSDH, MS, and Michaela Nguyen, RDH, BSDH, MS—are also USC faculty. “We are deeply saddened by the closure, but the 93 years of contributions to the dental hygiene professions and the legacy of our program will forever live in our hearts and minds,” Nguyen commented.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. February 2021;19(2):10.