Department of Journalism and Mass Communications
Samford University - Birmingham, AL
Dr. Jon Clemmensen has been teaching undergraduate print and broadcast journalism courses at Samford for the past 22 years.
As an undergraduate history major at Rutgers University, Clemmensen never expected to enter the world of media. He played soccer for the university and began to notice the lack of publication in the school newspaper for the soccer team. After approaching the newspaper editor over the issue, Clemmensen soon became the sports editor for the paper and loved it. After graduating from Rutgers in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts in history, Clemmensen decided to pursue his masters in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University.
After graduating from Northwestern, Clemmensen spent the next four years as a reporter and business editor for the Star Ledger in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. In 1976, Clemmensen became the director of Student Media at the University of South Carolina. As an assistant professor, he realized his passion for teaching and decided to work toward his ED. D. from USC in order to continue teaching. After several years at USC, Clemmenson taught upper-level print courses at the University of Florida and served as director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association.
After just three years at UF, Clemmensen received a phone call from the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Samford. The dean was looking to bring back the journalism department that had been removed over a decade before. Clemmensen saw an opportunity to build bridges between Samford and its neighboring media organizations. He accepted the challenge and spent the next 12 years re-establishing Samford's journalism and mass communication program as chair of the department.
Dr. Clemmensen has done professional internships at Fox6 TV, WBRC-TV (ABC), Intermark Advertising and Vazda Studios in Birmingham. Previously, he was also a professional intern at the St. Petersburg Times.
Office: University Center Annex, Room 203
Phone: (205) 726-2466
E-mail: jlclemme@samford.edu
