First Dr. Ronald Kerby Scholarship Recipient Named

The DDS class of 2016 honors Dr. Kerby.

A beloved faculty member to the thousands of dental students he taught during his three decades at the College of Dentistry, Ronald Kerby, DMD, was passionately devoted to instilling in students a drive for perfection and a commitment to going “above and beyond” for patients. When he passed away in July 2014, Dr. Kerby was recognized with a scholarship named in his honor. This spring, second-year dental student Joe Benson was selected as the first recipient of the Dr. Ronald Kerby Scholarship.

“I am so grateful to the donors who made this scholarship possible and I feel inspired to try my very best to live up to the example Dr. Kerby set for his students.” -- Joe Benson

“I never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Kerby, but everything I have heard about him makes me extremely proud to be honored as the first recipient of this scholarship,” Mr. Benson said after receiving the award.

“I am so grateful to the donors who made this scholarship possible and I feel inspired to try my very best to live up to the example Dr. Kerby set for his students.”

The Dr. Ronald Kerby Scholarship Fund provides $2,500 annually to a second-year dental student who is determined by pre-clinical faculty as having demonstrated diligence, a commitment to excellence, and the most significant improvement in hand skills between the first and third years in the DDS program. Scholarship recipients also must demonstrate the attributes Dr. Kerby valued most – self-discipline, high ethical standards, and the desire to go “above and beyond” in their academic performance.

“Dr. Kerby was committed to teaching his students to always strive for improvement,” Patrick Lloyd, dean of the College of Dentistry, said. “I believe he would have been very pleased with Joe Benson as our first recipient because he’s a student who has demonstrated the utmost persistence and excellence in the preclinical lab.”

To learn more information about the Dr. Ronald Kerby Scholarship Fund or other gift opportunities and options, please contact Alumni Affairs and Development at 614-247-8621.