Scott Jensen is well known in Maryland’s government relations and public policy circles. He brings a wealth of experience to Salisbury University where he is responsible for working with President Janet Dudley-Eshbach to create and maintain mutually productive relationships between the University and its national, state and local public partners.

Most recently he served with then-Maryland Secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) Thomas E. Perez. As a special assistant to the secretary, Jensen shepherded a number of O’Malley administration priorities through passage in the General Assembly including expansion of unemployment insurance benefits to part-time workers; the Workplace Fraud Act of 2009 that addresses the practice of misclassification of employees as independent contractors; and the alignment of adult and correctional education with the workforce development system in Maryland. After these bills became law, Jensen, as part of DLLR’s senior leadership team, worked to ensure robust implementation for these and other administration priorities.

In local government, he served two terms on Easton, Maryland’s, town council before choosing not to seek re-election in 2009. By working closely with the mayor and colleagues on the council, Jensen was able to affect steady and substantial change for Easton in its downtown revitalization, smart growth, historic preservation, economic development and public safety. Among his accomplishments are a first-on-the-Shore architectural standards ordinance for new development; the doubling of Easton’s historic district, the only such expansion in Maryland; a negotiated consensus between developers and community preservation groups for the two largest and most controversial development projects Easton had seen in decades; and legislative and planning efforts to keep Easton Memorial Hospital in Easton. Such experiences make him particularly attuned to the many “town-gown” challenges and opportunities inherent in SU’s work with its local partners.

Jensen earned a bachelor’s in history from Illinois State University and a master’s in liberal education (“Great Books”) from St. John’s College. While he ultimately put his liberal arts education to work in politics, his academic studies originally brought him to Maryland and Salisbury from New York City, where he was a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the New School for Social Research. Prior to his career in public service, he taught philosophy as a lecturer at SU from 1999 to 2001 on a joint appointment in the Honors Program and Philosophy Department.

Jensen lives in Easton with his wife, Andrea Poe, and their daughter, Maxine. He still volunteers in Easton’s political arena, and finds time to pursue his passion for classical, modern and Habermasian political theory, as well as Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology.

Holloway Hall (HH) 246
410-677-3160 or ext 73160
srjensen@salisbury.edu