Dr. Gerald R. DeSchepper --"Jerry"--received his Ph.D. in Comparative Arts at Ohio University, with a major in film studies and art history. He teaches film courses at the University of Rhode Island across three different academic departments: English, Art and Film Studies. Among the classes he teaches are the introduction to film and screen studies (FLM101) and the two-part history of film (FLM204 and FLM205) course sequence.

His areas of special interest are in European Art Cinema and American Independent Film. During summer sessions he regularly teaches a course on the Horror film, and is in the process of developing a course on film comedy. Jerry particularly enjoys working with continuing education students returning to college at the Providence campus. He is currently the Director of the film studies program and serves as the chairperson of the faculty film studies committee.