Faculty Biographies

Ms. Irina Novopoltseva received her associate degree in dental hygiene from Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in 2007, her baccalaureate degree in education from Youngstown State University in 2010, and her MBA with a concentration in human resources management from The State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2016.

Irina Novopoltseva joined The Ohio State University’s College of Dentistry as a full-time hygienist at the Dental Faculty Practice in 2018. In addition to practicing dental hygiene, she provided clinical instruction to the students at Columbus State Community College. She began a full-time faculty position as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Dental Hygiene in 2020 and is the Course Director for: Pain and Anxiety Management, Instructional Strategies, Educational Theory and Methodology, Research Methods and Application courses teaching BSDH, BS dental hygiene students including dental hygiene graduate students. Additionally, she leads Practicums and Internships experiences across the programs. She previously taught as an allied dental preceptor at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked with both dental hygiene and dental assisting students. She re-designed multiple courses at Tri-C to accommodate distance learning demands for students in traditional courses. She has both didactic and clinical teaching experience in traditional, hybrid, and distance learning settings. Her research interests include utilizing technology for classroom innovation, professionalism, ethics and increasing dental hygiene knowledge for community oral health.