Cynthia Amyot Ed.D.

It has often been said one’s environment has an immense impact on a person. In fact, environment molds people into the individuals they become. Environment certainly played a role in Cindy Amyot’s life. She grew up next to a dental office in the small town of Grass Lake, Michigan. That experience molded the rest of her life.

Amyot – who will receive the Alumni Achievement Award for the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry in October – obtained her first college degree (an Associate of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene) from Ferris State University in Michigan. She later moved to Kansas City with her husband and continued her education at the UMKC School of Dentistry.

Today Amyot leads one of the most distinguished dental hygiene programs in the nation. As director of the Division of Dental Hygiene at the UMKC School of Dentistry, she works tirelessly to provide top-quality education for tomorrow’s dental hygienists. One of Amyot’s specific passions is planning the School of Dentistry’s annual “Pouring from the Heart” gala. The event raises money for the School’s special patient care clinic, which provides care to special needs patients, including those who have cancer.

A cancer survivor herself, Amyot feels compelled to give back to a cause that touched her life personally.  

“Giving back to the community is an important part of who I am,” Amyot says. “I love Kansas City, and I love UMKC, so giving my time and talents to promote the University is my honor and pleasure.”

Since 1998, Amyot has worked to develop – from the ground up – the only master’s program in dental hygiene that is offered completely online. Today the program draws students from Florida to California and Tennessee to Oregon. By using distance technology, UMKC’s dental hygiene master’s program provides advanced education access to dental hygienists who lead busy lives or live far from UMKC.  

“Cindy has used her remarkable energy and talent to put UMKC’s dental hygiene program on the map in the state and nationally,” says Michael Reed, DDS, dean of the UMKC School of Dentistry.

 Amyot has been heavily involved with the UMKC Alumni Association. She currently serves as secretary on the Governing Board and vice president of communications. Last year she received the “Excellence in Dental Hygiene Award” from the American Dental Hygienists Association (ADHA). She was also a UMKC Center for the City Faculty Fellow. Students voted Amyot the 2004 “Teacher of the Year” in the Division of Dental Hygiene.

“It is this [Cindy’s] kind of dedication that makes her stand head and shoulders above the rest,” says Jeanean Mitchell, immediate past president of UMKC’s Dental Hygiene Alumni Association.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students.  UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a three-part mission: visual and performing arts, health sciences, and urban affairs.