Born to American parents in Lima, Peru, where his father served as
an accountant to a church mission, Jerry Denehy's childhood travels helped
shape his cosmopolitan perspective on the world. He graduated from high school in Mt. Vernon, Ohio and after attending Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan for three years, enrolled in dental school at Loma Linda University in Riverside California. He stopped short of completing work for his Bachelor's degree because, as he said at the time, "the only reason that I would ever need a Bachelor's degree would be if I were to teach and I know I will never do that." As it turned out, teaching and the development of innovative educational materials turned out to be a central interest in his life. The quality of his teaching is exemplified in the fact that he has received six student-selected teacher of the awards.
After graduation from Loma Linda in 1968, Jerry planned to enter
private practice. When plans to set up an office in Colorado fell through,
he accepted an invitation to join the faculty at the University of Iowa
College of Dentistry, thinking that a brief stint in teaching would give
him time to look for other options. Instead, he soon decided that
combining teaching with the practice of dentistry was the career he
wanted.
As part of his teaching responsibilities at Iowa, Jerry completed the Master's program in Operative Dentistry, which at that time had a heavy emphasis on teaching methodology. He took additional courses in the College of Education and worked with the teacher training program of Devore Killip. Under the mentorship and excellent example of Dr. Wallace Johnson, Jerry found teaching to be a stimulating and rewarding experience and one that he wanted to pursue as a career.
For twenty years, Dr. Denehy supervised the first experiences in dentistry of freshman dental students. These experiences included the dental anatomy courses where blue wax, cones, and lighthouses as well as the alcohol torch occupied most of their time. He graded thousands of dentiform cavity preparations and restorations, guiding newcomers to the profession through their introduction to restorative dentistry. He collaborated with colleague Dr. Jim Fuller on several projects including a self-instructional dental anatomy textbook, Concise Dental Anatomy, still widely used in the United States. He completed several research projects and publications relating to self-instructional teaching machines, peer evaluation, visual feedback techniques and the development and utilization of behavioral objectives.
His interest in composite resins and bonding dates from the beginning of the development of that technology and continues today. The combination of research in this technology and his strong clinical interest in esthetic dentistry has led to many continuing education presentations throughout the nation and the world. He has more than 80 publications and has presented his work at most of the major national dental meetings and at many international meetings. In 1994 Dr. Denehy received the Gordon Christensen Lecturer Recognition Award at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, recognizing his willingness and exceptional ability to share his expertise in esthetic dentistry with his colleagues.
In 1988, Jerry was appointed director of the graduate program in Operative Dentistry. Although these new responsibilities took him away from the freshman teaching that he had enjoyed greatly, they provided more time for clinical teaching in the use of composite resins in esthetic dentistry. He describes himself as fortunate to have had excellent graduate students in the program, many of whom are now teachers in Operative Dentistry both nationally (Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Creighton, North Carolina, West Virginia) and internationally (Thailand, Canada, Brazil, Iran).
Jerry Denehy's interest in learning and teaching about new techniques in esthetic dentistry and in the development of new approaches to teaching continue. He is currently working in the area of computer-generated multimedia educational presentation. Jerry's wife, Janice, is a member of the graduate faculty in the College of Nursing. She also has received recognition, both locally and nationally, for her teaching expertise. Jerry and Janice have three children. Daughter Allison and son Mike are students at the University of Iowa and daughter Christine is pursuing a professional singing career in New York City.
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Last Modified: February 28, 1997