Sam L Grogg is currently a moving image producing and higher education consultant.  He recently received the title of Professor Emeritus from Adelphi University in New York where, for the past nine years, he served in various leadership capacities.  Grogg holds the Ph.D. from Bowling Green University.  Grogg and colleagues at the Center for the Study of Popular Culture at BGSU pioneered the interdisciplinary study of American and International popular culture.  In 1972, with two colleagues, Grogg founded The Journal of Popular Film and Television which continues to be published as one of the leading academic journals in its field.  As the American Film Institute’s Executive Director of National Education during the 1970s, Grogg served as Education Editor of American Film, a monthly national magazine, and edited three editions of The AFI Guide to College Courses in Film and Television. His early research and publication focused on popular culture pedagogy, film and television criticism and related areas.

Grogg left AFI in 1980 to head the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas, where he subsequently founded FilmDallas, a motion picture financing, production and distribution company. Grogg’s financing and producing credits include KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL both pictures garnering numerous Oscar nominations and receiving Best Actor and Best Actress Academy Awards. He has executive produced or produced several theatrical and television films, including DA, PATTI ROCKS and SPIKE OF BENSONHURST. In 1989, he and Oscar-winning visual effects artist John Dykstra founded Magic Pictures, where Grogg executive produced and produced numerous visual effects productions, television commercials, large format presentations for theme parks and other productions while serving as President of Apogee Productions and Magic Pictures. Grogg was elected a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in 1988.

In 1993, Grogg was named the founding Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he brought together professional filmmakers and artist to create a major new conservatory for filmmakers.  “The collaboration that formed the School of Filmmaking was one of the most fulfilling in my professional career,” says Grogg.

In 1999, Grogg rejoined AFI as Dean of the AFI Conservatory. He was honored by the AFI Board of Trustees in 2004 as the fourth “Master” teacher and filmmaker to lead the Conservatory since its founding in 1967.  In 2005, Grogg received the Ray and Pat Browne Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the study of Popular Culture from the National Popular Culture Association. Grogg was named Dean of the School of Communication at the University of Miami in the spring of 2005.

Grogg led revolutionary changes while at the University of Miami expanding its campus media, establishing the Knight Center for International Media, executive producing ONE WATER a television special narrated by Martin Sheen, overseeing a complete revision of his School’s curriculum while greatly increasing philanthropic support.  Grogg received the William R. Butler Award for Support of Student Government in 2006 and in 2010 was honored by the Directors of the Online News Association for his work to advance multimedia journalism.

In the spring of 2011, Grogg was named Dean at Adelphi University where he oversaw the College of Arts and Sciences as well as the Adelphi Performing Arts Center.  Grogg co-led the University’s strategic planning effort in 2016 along with new President Christine M. Riordan.  Sam was then named Interim Provost and Executive Vice President from 2016 through summer of 2018 and headed the office of strategic initiatives until January 2020.

Sam and his family recently moved to Winston Salem, North Carolina where he plans to continue to consult and to executive produce motion picture and television projects.