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Rachel Finley
574 TNRB
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3598
prspecialist@byu.edu

New Faculty Joins the Rollins Center for eBusiness

For Clint Rogers, the most unnerving part of his new position as visiting research associate with the Rollins Center for eBusiness isn’t his responsibilities—it’s his title.

“It’s still weird being called ‘Dr. Rogers,’” he jokes.

A recent doctoral candidate of BYU’s Instructional Psychology and Technology Department, Rogers dreamed of becoming a doctor and an inventor as a child. His greatest ambition was to create a way for people to increase their learning capacity.

“I guess I’ve always been a little dissatisfied with the way formal education usually works,” he says. “Culturally, we bring so many assumptions that we don’t even see. We judge what knowledge is, and what’s worth learning, but not everyone is the same.”

Rogers began his studies at the University of Minnesota with the intention of going on to medical school, but his interest in education prevailed. He transferred to BYU where he earned a BA in marriage, family, and human development, and more recently, his PhD. His dissertation analyzed the interaction between cross-cultural differences and online learning—a key issue as the Internet is increasingly used as a mode of international communication.

Now as faculty member, Rogers assists in teaching ISYS 590R, a course in web analytics that helps students learn to better analyze the efficiency of web sites. He is also continuing to research the way people learn and how those methods can be improved.

Quiet and unassuming, Rogers rarely reveals the depth of experience he pulls from. He seldom spends a summer in the United States and has visited and presented at conferences in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and across North America. He even spent some time as a member of Comedy Sportz, a national improv comedy club.

The greatest motivation Rogers finds for his research, work, and service has been a desire to build the kingdom of God. “That’s something I always ask myself— am I building God’s kingdom or my own?”

Using this motto, Rogers is looking to further deepen his teaching and research experience within the next few months. He will continue working with the Center for eBusiness to research and increase the effectiveness of technology used in business and education. Then in September, he will move to Finland. There, he will spend four to six months coordinating research efforts on cross-cultural educational technology among PhD students from China, Africa, and Europe.

Rogers has yet to determine where he will go from there. He has been offered positions with business consulting firms. Several universities have also invited him to apply for teaching positions.

“I don’t believe in planning my life too far in advance because things usually turn out better than I could ever plan them,” he says. “It’s just a matter of giving my best in each moment and being open to new opportunities when they come along.”