Donna Kotyk, CDA, RDH, M.A., was
elected to the Dental Assisting National Board’s (DANB’s) Board of Directors in 2005 as an American Dental Education Association (ADEA) nominee.
She completed her first of a possible two three-year terms and began her second term in August 2008.
Ms. Kotyk has been employed as an instructor in the Dental Assisting Technology Program at Salish Kootenai College
since 1991, and as the Director of the program since 1997. Salish Kootenai College is the tribal college of
the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.
It is the only tribal college with an accredited dental assisting program.
She has a B.A. degree in Anthropology and an M.A. in Education from the University of Michigan.
She has been actively involved in private practice dental offices since 1968 in Michigan, California,
and Alaska. After receiving her Certificate in Dental Hygiene she worked concurrently as a Clinical
Instructor at the University of Michigan dental hygiene program and as a Research Assistant in the Department
of Orthodontics.
Ms. Kotyk has been a curriculum consultant and a staff representative for dental assisting to the American Dental
Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation since 1996. She was on the Dental Assisting Review Committee
to the Commission on Dental Accreditation from 2002 to 2006.
Ms. Kotyk was also the first dental assistant and one of 14 dental professionals to be selected as a Fellow
in the Leadership Institute of the American Dental Education Association for the class of 2002.
She was the ADEA/Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Allied Dental Educator’s Fellow scholarship
recipient for that year.
Currently, Ms. Kotyk is partnering with the University of California - Los Angeles School of Dentistry to pilot one of the Community Dental Health Coordinator programs. This is one of the workforce models proposed by the American Dental Association in answer to access to care issues.
Ms. Kotyk has been a Certified Dental Assistant since 1992.
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