Patricia A. O'Connor, Associate Professor of Dentistry, retired from active faculty status on November 30, 1988.

Professor O'Connor received her A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Radcliffe College in 1951. Later that year she came to The University of Michigan, where she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1952 and 1959, respectively. While working toward her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, Professor O'Connor served as a teaching assistant, research assistant, teaching fellow, and research associate in the Department of Psychology. From 1960-63, she continued as a research associate on two funded projects. For the next five years she was a lecturer in psychology, after which she spent two years away from the University (1968-70) to complete work on a text, and to design and conduct research on intellectual curiosity.

Professor O'Connor came to the School of Dentistry in 1970, first as a research associate, then as a senior research associate, to develop methods for individualizing courses in preclinical dentistry. She trained and directed a team of four instructional developers for a five-year, federally funded development project, and served as a consultant to the faculty on instruction, educational research, student evaluation, motivation, product evaluation, and instructional technology.

Since 1978, she has been an associate professor in the Department of Educational Resources, designing, developing, and presenting materials to improve clinical teaching. She has also taught courses to dental and dental hygiene students, and has served on the committees of several M.S. and Ph.D. candidates. In addition to these responsibilities, Professor O'Connor has continued her research efforts as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on a number of grants. Her long list of publications testifies to the value of her work to educators in dentistry and other health care fields, as well as other educational researchers.

Over the years, Professor O'Connor has donated time to membership on various School of Dentistry committees, including those on admissions, human subjects, faculty development, and student evaluation. She has also been an evaluation consultant for two videotapes developed through the school and funded by the Women's Educational Equity Act Program.

An active member of her profession, Professor O'Connor belongs to the American Association of Dental Schools, the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and Sigma Xi (a scientific research honorary society). She has also been a consultant to the National Specialty Board in Orthodontics in its revision of methods for evaluation of candidates, a principal developer of the Science of Clinical Teaching for the National Curriculum of Dentistry, and a reviewer of three other courses in the National Curriculum.

The Regents now salute this distinguished health educator for her dedicated service by naming Patricia A. O'Connor Associate Professor Emerita of Dentistry.