Dr. Damien Clement
Dr. Damien Clement is a professor in the College of Applied Human Sciences at West Virginia University, and is associate dean at the Honors College.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in sports medicine/ athletic training from the University of Charleston in 2003. While at the University of Charleston, Dr. Clement captained the track and field team his junior and senior years.
Upon his graduation Dr. Clement enrolled in West Virginia University, concurrently pursuing a doctoral degree in sport and exercise psychology and a masters degree in community counseling. He completed his masters degree in community counseling in December 2007 and his doctoral degree in sport and exercise psychology in May 2008. In August of 2008 Dr. Clement was hired as an assistant professor at West Virginia University to teach undergraduate sport and exercise psychology courses and graduate athletic training courses.
Dr. Clement is currently a Certified Athletic Trainer, a National Certified Counselor as well as an Association for Applied Sport Psychology Certified Consultant. He is an active member in the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, National Athletic Trainers’ Association, West Virginia Athletic Trainers’ Association, and American Psychological Association.
Dr. Clement’s research interests span both sport and exercise psychology and athletic training. More specifically he is interested in professional issues in sport psychology and athletic training as well as psychology of sport injury. Dr. Clement has conducted psychological skills training programs with injured athletes within the athletic training room setting in addition to performance enhancement sessions both in an individual and team setting.
Dr. Clement was named assistant dean of the Honors College in 2017 where he helped launch the new Honors Foundations Program, which had its first cohort of students complete in spring 2019. He also worked extensively with department chairs and faculty members to increase Honors course options available to students.
Dr. Clement served as acting dean of the Honors College from July 2019 to June 2020. As acting dean, Dr. Clement worked with key constituents both within the Honors College and University administration to develop a summer bridge program for incoming Honors freshmen which was scheduled for summer 2020 prior to the COVD-19 pandemic; worked with the Honors College alumni coordinator and communication specialist to publish the Honors College's second edition of its alumni newsletter; developed a committee and evaluation protocol to award the J and C Nath Outstanding Honors graduate award, outstanding Honors Teaching award and the outstanding Honors Advising award; worked with the Chamber College of Business and Economics to develop a memorandum of understanding regarding the Honors College Experiential and Community Engaged Learning (EXCEL) program; implemented a variety of diversity-related initiatives in the Honors College (for e.g., development and implementation of affinity groups for Honors students of color and LGBTQ+ students, organized multicultural trainings for resident assistants in Honors and Lincoln Hall, hosted various outreach activities for underrepresented students, and expanded the diversity related course offerings for students in the Honors College); and was the primary investigator on a small grant received from the National Collegiate Honors Council to the WVU Honors College.
Dr. Clement moved back into his assistant dean role in July 2020. In summer 2021, Dr. Clement was promoted to associate dean of the Honors College. He looks forward to continuing to work with Dr. Blemings and the Honors community to see where the future takes the WVU Honors College.