UT Educator Receives Prestigious Award

Harold A. Henson, RDH, PhD, was honored with the 2021 University of Texas (UT) System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in November. Henson, a member of Dimensions of Dental Hygiene’s Editorial Advisory Board, is an associate professor and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry. One of 14 recipients of this prestigious award, Henson was nominated by John M. Zerwas, MD, UT System’s executive vice chancellor for health affairs. Each year, the recipients of this award are lauded for their excellence in teaching and creating innovative educational experiences. In 2021, particular attention was paid to those educators who adapted effectively and creatively to teaching during the global pandemic. 

In the spring of 2020, Henson changed gears in order to adjust the dental hygiene educational experience to continue in the absence of live patient care. He developed the Dental Hygiene Process of Care, a multiple choice examination that evaluated dental hygiene students’ effectiveness at determining a patient’s dental hygiene treatment.

From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. December 2021;19(12)9.