Interview of Honor Whitacre by Kay Bea Jones

Interview conducted at The Ohio State University Archives, Columbus, Ohio.Honor Whitacre describes her roles at Ohio State as a student and instructor in the Division of Dental Hygiene, and as Director of the Division. Whitacre graduated from OSU in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work, and had earned a certificate in Dental Hygiene before that. She returned to OSU in 1963 to teach in the Division of Dental Hygiene, and she eventually rose through the ranks to become Director in 1987. She retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1995. She first discusses why she picked the field of dental hygiene, then she describes the insular environment of what was then all white women in the Division, and how that expanded during the 1970s and 1980s when men began to train as hygienists and African-Americans were hired to teach. Another development she discusses is the creation of a four-year degree for Dental Hygiene, and a closer collaboration between Dental Hygiene and Dentistry. Whitacre also talks about committee work, particularly her leadership of the College of Dentistry’s promotion-and-tenure committee