Katy Warren Looks Back on More than 50 Years at UAMS
| Even half a century can seem to pass quickly when you stay as busy and as professionally engaged as Katy Warren.
When asked what the biggest surprise of her 55-year career at UAMS has been, she said, “I think if I’d been unhappy, time wouldn’t have passed quickly, and I’ve always liked coming to work. If I didn’t, I would have done something else.”
Warren, M.Ed., RDH, is an associate professor in the Department of Dental Hygiene in the UAMS College of Health Professions. She was at the university when the college was established so both the institution and her career grew side by side. And it’s a career that has seen big changes in technology, campus culture, and the field of dentistry itself.
Her journey at UAMS started in 1968 when she worked in the Department of Anatomy, now the Division of Clinical Anatomy in the Department of Neuroscience. After two years, she decided to pursue a different path and enrolled in the dental hygiene school in 1970, graduating in 1971 with a certificate in dental hygiene.
Following graduation, she worked full-time in a private dental practice for several months before joining UAMS as part-time faculty in August 1972. For several years, she split her time, working half-time at the university and half-time at the dental office. She eventually transitioned to a full-time faculty position in the 1980s.
Academically, Warren holds a bachelor’s degree in home economics, a master’s degree in adult education, which she earned in the late 1970s, and a graduate certificate in public health.
Today, as an associate professor, she teaches a variety of courses, including nutrition, radiography, oral anatomy, and embryology, in addition to providing hands-on instruction in the Pre-Clinic course, which introduce students to foundational clinical skills and hands-on experience in dental hygiene practice.
After more than five decades, Warren says her greatest pleasure remains the students. She finds fulfillment in watching them overcome the initial learning curve to master complex, hands-on procedures.
“Most of the students come into the program not even knowing the name of instruments or how to hold them and all of a sudden they look natural in the dental environment,” Warren said.
Warren has also witnessed a complete technological transformation in dental hygiene, and recalls the early clinical environment, which bears no resemblance to today’s modern facilities.
“We had to use a foot pedal and pump to raise chairs, and we were all in one big room. There was no division between patients. We wore white dresses, white hose and caps; I looked like a nurse basically,” Warren said.
She stresses that her decision to stay at UAMS for 55 years was driven by passion, not necessity..
“I love the students, I love my faculty and staff family, and I love teaching,” Warren said.