Dennehy's Brand of Success
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Photos by Jason Caniglia
Dr. Daniel Dennehy, ’72 zoology alumnus, grew up loving the university his parents
and relatives attended, and he couldn’t wait to follow their example.
“I grew up thinking that next to Satan and the Soviet Union, the worst thing in the
world was OU,” Dennehy says. “There was never any question about where I’d go to school.”
And while others in the academic community may debate what it takes to make a successful
university, Dennehy has no doubt. “The faculty is key to success,”
he says.
Dennehy, who graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School in 1976, began
his career with a three-year stint as an Army doctor and then practiced radiology
for nearly 20 years.
Today he is a clinical associate professor of radiology at OU Medical Center in Tulsa,
and he credits his success to the high-quality instruction of OSU faculty.
To thank the many faculty members who made his education possible, Dennehy has ensured
that a portion of his estate will help recruit and keep top faculty in zoology, chemistry
and physics.
His planned gift establishes a $1 million endowment. One-third of the endowment’s
annual earnings will fund faculty needs in zoology with the remaining two-thirds going
to zoology, chemistry or physics, based on need.
Dennehy made many unforgettable memories at OSU but none quite as fond as the night
his jazz band played to an empty house at Stillwater’s Colony Club.
“It was dead because there was a concert going on at Gallagher-Iba, and no one was
there. We were playing to the bartender,” he says.
“At 10:30 p.m., two customers walked in, sat down 10 yards from us, smiled and ordered.
Then for the next two hours, I had the pleasure of playing for the Carpenters, the
brother and sister pop duo who had been playing at Gallagher. That was a neat event.”
Dennehy wants to do his part so future generations can make extraordinary memories
at OSU. “It takes great faculty to make a great university,” he says, “and it takes
money to obtain great faculty.
“Asking why I want to give is like asking, ‘Why do you stay married to your wife?’
You love her. I can’t say any more than that. I just love this school.”
This story originally ran in the 2010 College of Arts & Sciences magazine.