Longtime College of Dentistry Faculty Member Honored With Named Conference

For 46 years and counting, G. Frans Currier, D.D.S., M.S.D., M.Ed., has been a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. This year, the American Association of Orthodontists recognized his service with a conference named in his honor and the opportunity to give a lecture to his fellow orthodontists from around the nation.

The Society of Educators, a component of the American Association of Orthodontists, honored him with the G. Frans Currier Educational Leadership Conference and Reception. His presentation was titled “The Dynamics and Challenges for Orthodontic Educators in Our Country’s Semi-Quincentennial.”

“This was a singular honor for me,” he said.

Currier, now a David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus with the OU College of Dentistry, arrived at the college in 1980 after serving at several other institutions as well as a stint in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He was a full-time faculty member at OU until 2020, when he scaled back to part-time for five years. Since last August, he has worked as a volunteer faculty member.

During his tenure, he has held numerous leadership roles, including head of the Division of Orthodontics, chair of the Department of Orthodontics, chair of the Division of Developmental Dentistry, and director of Graduate Orthodontics. He has also been active as a clinician and researcher. He was named a Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professor, and he held the Ram S. Nanda Chair in Orthodontics.

Currier said he was drawn to academia for his dental career because of the opportunity to teach the next generation.

“I realized I could influence more things by teaching future dental professionals,” he said. “That has been my philosophy since the beginning.”

Currier is known for his many philosophical beliefs. They include:

“We are in science, but we are also in the arts. If you think it’s pure science, that’s false.”

“Seminars are very important in academia. You can read, but if you just read and don’t discuss, you’ve made a strategic mistake. It’s crucial to hear the students think.”

“All the data on learning shows that if you write something down, you learn it. If you keyboard it, you don’t learn as well.”

“We need to do a better job of treating the patient versus treating the computer.”

“Students are going to make mistakes; that’s how you get better. If you don’t make any mistakes, you’re either lying or cheating.”

“We need to look at the past because it helps us predict what’s coming. Things happen in cycles.”

“You need to have interests outside your profession. One way to do that is travel. Travel is a major equalizer.”

“You have to be for something, not against something, in order to make it better.”