Virginia Western Community College began delivery of the Associate of Applied Science Degree Dental Hygiene Program to Danville Community College via distance learning in 1997, graduating the first class in 1999. The program expanded to include Lord Fairfax Community College in 2000, graduating the first class in 2002. Students are admitted to the distance sites biennially. The program is designed to prepare qualified students as primary preventive oral health professionals licensed to practice dental hygiene. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will be eligible to take national, regional, and state board examinations leading to licensure as a registered dental hygienist (RDH).
Note: The first class at Central Virginia Community College began in the Fall of 2008, graduating the first class in 2010. After the completion of the current cohort of students (graduating class of 2012), the VWCC Dental Hygiene extended campus facility at the CVCC location will be going into a hibernation period. Applications will not be accepted for CVCC for 2012 and until further notice, if you are interested in another site, you may contact VWCC.
The Joint Venture programs are a distance satellite of VWCC's accredited dental hygiene program. Students enroll in the same classes and have clinical experiences just like students on the Roanoke campus. The dental hygiene classroom environment consists of various modalities. While most courses originate from the main campus at VWCC, some courses may originate from one of the distance campuses or be in an on-line format. The dental hygiene lecture is delivered "live" to the other classroom site by compressed video (VTEL); students can see and talk to the classroom instructor and to students at the Roanoke site. Preclinical, clinic, and laboratory courses will take place at the clinical facility developed by the Joint Venture site. DCC has a new facility in the Foundation Hall on the Danville campus. LFCC students attend and have a clinical site on the Middletown campus. Students may complete their support courses (English, Microbiology, Psychology, etc.) at DCC or LFCC.
Students can talk with the instructor during class sessions using the compressed video. In addition, weekly conference time will be provided for students at the joint venture site as "office hours" for faculty-student communication. Students will have individual email accounts. Other communication can be done by phone or fax. A local program coordinator is employed at the LFCC and DCC sites; this individual is a dental hygienist with an education background, and the coordinator serves as a clinical faculty member and academic advisor for students.
For specific questions about the distance classroom and clinical experiences of the students at Joint Venture sites, you may be able to speak with the following Site Coordinator during the Fall or Spring semester:
LFCC campus - Linda Gill (540) 868-7023
DCC campus - Lynn Turner (434) 797-6427
To apply for admission, send all application materials directly to: Pamela Woody, VWCC, P.O. Box 14007, Roanoke, VA 24038. All applications are processed by Miss Woody at VWCC in Roanoke. If you have further questions you may call her at (540) 857-7307 or e-mail pwoody@virginiawestern.edu . She will answer any academic or application questions you may have. Early application is encouraged for advising purposes.
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