Favorite color: Green.
Favorite TV show: Any newscasts.
Favorite pets: His students.
The University of Memphis journalism department is welcoming its newest faculty member, broadcast professor Dana Rosengard. Rosengard who left the University of North Carolina to come to Memphis, has experience in both the newsroom and classroom.
Rosengard was born in Boston and educated at the University of New Hampshire with a BA in Communications, Northwestern University with an MS in broadcast journalism, Johnson State College with an MA in education and the University of North Carolina, where he is completing a PhD. Rosengard is a Park Fellowship recipient. He has taught at Lyndon State College and was an assistant professor at UNC. He has been at six different television stations working as a reporter, anchor and a newscast producer.
“He’s a very high energy, involved positive person I think will bring a lot of energy to our program,” said Jim Redmond, chair of the Journalism Department.
Rosengard decided to become a college professor after hearing interns complain that their teachers and classes were boring.
“He blends both the applied media side and the theoretical media side which is a benefit for students,” Redmond said. “He’s got exciting personal presence and all the excitement about his area of expertise.”
Rosengard decided to come to Memphis because he likes the institution, the department and the city.
The atmosphere in Professor Rosengard’s television production class is one full of involvement and energy.
“I try to be real,” Rosengard said. “Journalism is really fun, and if you’re real, the reality is fun. I hope I’m lively, open, demanding but fair.”
As a child, Rosengard said he was an all around good child, a very responsible one. He is the middle child of five. Rosengard enjoys running, rollerblading and cooking, unabashedly claiming he can make a mean Caesar salad.
Admitting to dressing up for class everyday, Rosengard recalls a day when he overslept and arrived in class with his dirty dungarees and sweatshirt from the hamper. The students at UNC were surprised at what they saw and it became the buzz around campus for the day.
“People were just asking ‘what’s up with Rosengard?’,” Rosengard said.
According to Sandra Utt, associate professor in the Journalism Department, there were two finalists for the position and it was without a doubt that Rosengard was the one they wanted.
“He was, by far, the better of the two because of his extensive professional experience in different sized markets,” Utt said. “His presence with students was surprising.”
