Gwen Hlava, professor and chair of the dental hygiene department at the Lincoln, Neb.-based University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry, retired after serving the school for 50 years.
Ms. Hlava served at the school as an assistant professor from 1976 to 1983, an associate professor from 1983 to 2017 and had been a professor for the past seven years. She became chairman of the dental hygiene department in 1985 and served in the role for 40 years, according to a July 27 news release.
Throughout her time at UNMC, Ms. Hlava helped improve the school's dental hygiene program, which ranked first out of 256 other programs in the nation in 2006.
Ms. Hlava also helped establish numerous programs at the UNMC College of Dentistry, including the UNMC Sealant Program and the UNMC West Division Dental Hygiene Program, the release said.