Posted on February 17, 2023 by Wendy Frost
David Johnsen , a retired associate professor of practice in marketing in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business at UTSA, died on Feb. 4 following a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 75.
A Celebration of Life memorial service will be held from noon-2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at River City Community Church, 16765 Lookout Road in Selma. His obituary is available on the Porter Loring site. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to River City Community Church.
“David was a life-long learner and had a passion for sharing his knowledge and real-word experiences with students–linking those connections to the course material,” said Dan Davied , professor of practice in marketing. “He was never too busy to help a student or answer questions–he really cared about his students’ success. Over his 19 years with UTSA, David has positively impacted the lives and careers of thousands of students. We will all miss him more than words can express.”
A Navy veteran, Johnsen brought more than 30 years of industry experience to the classroom from his career at SBC and later AT&T. His professional background spanned a broad spectrum of responsibilities including market planning, competitive intelligence, advertising, copy testing, brand tracking and media planning.
Few know that he was trained by veterans of the Central Intelligence Agency and was a founding member of AT&T’s competitive intelligence unit. There he was responsible for forecasting the expected marketing strategies of AT&T’s top five competitors, quantifying their competitive expenditures, estimating the likely impact of those expenditures on market share and recommending competitive response strategies for AT&T.
Before retiring from industry, he was responsible for all copy testing, brand measurement and advertising tracking for AT&T’s 2006 national brand relaunch.
Beginning a second career at UTSA, Johnsen was a member of the faculty from 2002-2021. Teaching both undergraduate and graduate marketing classes, he was recognized for his teaching excellence with the “All Star Professor Award” by the UTSA Business Student Council.
“He was known as Dr. Dave to thousands of UTSA students,” said Tom Cannon , professor of practice in marketing. “He was rigorous, but fair in the classroom which attributed to his high student teaching evaluations. And, his key focus was on preparing students for the workforce.”
During his academic career he co-authored several conference and proceedings papers, including papers on the users of interactive communications technologies and on the differing perceptions of sales careers. He was published in the Journal of Product and Brand Management .
He also found time to serve on the college’s Scholarship Committee, and he served as an advisor to the UTSA Student Chapter of the American Marketing Association.
Johnsen earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Saint Louis University, an MBA from Oral Roberts University and a B.S. in Marketing from Rutgers University.
— Wendy Frost
