RMU: Rising-star educator Tye Jensen has a skeleton in his past
Rising-star educator Tye Jensen has a skeleton in his past
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- Tye Jensen is a certified physician assistant and a full-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU). (Courtesy RMU multimedia specialist Dustin Winter)
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- Tye Jensen, a certified physician assistant and a full-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU), poses for a photo with PA student Hannah Grover. (Courtesy RMU multimedia specialist Dustin Winter)
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- Tye Jensen is a certified physician assistant and a full-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU). (Courtesy RMU multimedia specialist Dustin Winter)
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- Tye Jensen, a certified physician assistant and a full-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU), poses for a photo with PA student Hannah Grover. (Courtesy RMU multimedia specialist Dustin Winter)
When he was in fifth grade, Tye Jensen badly wanted one item from the book fair at his Provo elementary school. It wasn’t a popular Goosebumps novel or any book for that matter. It wasn’t a multi-color click pen or a fuzzy neon Troll pencil topper, either.
After begging his parents, he got exactly what his heart was set on: a model skeleton.
“This is how big of a nerd I was,” Jensen recalled, laughing. “While the teacher was reading something, I was taking the little pieces of plastic apart and articulating the skeleton under my desk. At 10 years old, I was learning the proper names of the bones. Rather than saying it’s an arm, leg or hand, you’ve got carpals, metacarpals, phalanges, radius and ulna. I was just so fascinated.”
His fascination paid off.
Thirty years later, that grown-up boy is a certified physician assistant (PA) and a full-time faculty member at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU).
His favorite subject? It’s still anatomy. That’s fitting because it’s primarily what he teaches in RMU’s PA program.
Long after he learned to assemble a skeleton with his eyes closed, Jensen set his sights on a medical career. He considered athletic training as a teenager, but his path shifted when a high school athletic trainer he admired told him he’d become a PA if he could have a career redo.
Jensen’s first question: “What’s a PA?”
“I went home and looked up what a PA does and thought, ‘That’s a pretty sweet gig,'” he said. “From the time I was 16 years old, I decided, ‘I’m gonna be a PA.'”
Jensen’s journey to becoming a PA included earning an associate’s degree at Utah Valley University, a bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University and his Master of Physician Assistant Studies at the University of Utah.
“I hit them all,” he joked. “It was great, but I definitely still bleed blue.”
Before joining RMU, Jensen practiced urology for five years and family medicine for six years in Utah County. He enjoyed patient care and began precepting students in real-life situations. It was a bonus that he could do both at the same time.
“Taking care of other people — and having patients trust you enough with their health — is one of the more sacred things we can do,” Jensen said. “I always remembered that somebody took a chance on me when I was a student.”
Those experiences deepened his love for teaching.
“The model in medicine is ‘see one, do one, teach one,'” he said. “And that doesn’t stop when you become a clinician.”
Jensen was especially impressed by the RMU students he mentored.
“They were almost plug-and-play,” he said. “They would do an amazing history and physical, give a beautiful presentation and offer differential diagnoses and a treatment plan. I thought, ‘Man, they are doing something different at this school.'”
The students left a lasting impression about RMU with Jensen, but when a faculty position opened, he thought twice about it.
“I filled out the application but never sent it in,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is just a midlife crisis or something.'”
Six months later, another posting appeared. This time he clicked send. After interviews and several in-depth conversations with the program director, Jensen took the job.
In just four years, he has become a standout educator. Earlier this year, Jensen earned the 2026 RMU Rising Star Teaching Award.
“I was very flattered and humbled,” he said. “I remember thinking there was no chance I’d ever get something like that. To have peers and students appreciate the effort I put in to make their experience what I would have wanted is an absolute honor.”
Jensen still practices family medicine one day a week in Lehi. It allows him to continue helping patients and share fresh case studies with students.
“I love the clinical setting. I still love patients and don’t ever want to give that up,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back to class and said, ‘Hey guys, we just talked about upper extremity last week — guess what just came in?’ It reminds them why they’re here.”
Jensen prepares lectures meticulously, carefully considering possible questions from students. When he doesn’t know an answer, he stops and searches reliable sources with the class. It’s a lesson in the value of honesty and lifelong learning.
On his first day at RMU, Jensen was reminded of that when a new colleague handed him a piece of paper with “10,000 questions” written on it.
“Here’s a coupon,” Dr. Jonathan Baird told him. “You can ask me 10,000 questions.”
The paper is still taped to Jensen’s monitor in his office, surrounded by photos of his wife and three children, red and blue college gear, superhero memorabilia and a set of anatomy flashcards.
And that old plastic skeleton?
It’s still stashed away at his mom’s house.
“I love that my story comes full circle,” Jensen said. “It started with anatomy, and it’s where I’m at right now. I’m doing what I loved.”
Jody Genessy is the senior content writer at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions.