title: Danny Jorgensen
text: # Danny Jorgensen
  
  Danny Lynn Jorgensen (born 1951) is an American professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of South Florida, for which he also served as chair from 1999 to 2006.
  
  Jorgensen's research interests include Sociology of Culture, Knowledge, and Religion, Science and Religion, Cults and Sects, American religion, Native American religions, new religions, Mormonism, Shakerism, Occultism, Neopaganism, Witchcraft, Scientology, and others.
  
  Jorgensen has been active in the John Whitmer Historical Association since the late 1980s, serving as its president from 1996 to 1997.
  
  ## Education
  
  * Ph.D., Sociology, Ohio State University, 1979, Linguistics minor. Dissertation: "Tarot Divination in the Valley of the Sun: An Existential Sociology of the Esoteric and Occult."
  * M.A., Sociology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, 1974, Thesis: "The Social Construction of Professional Knowledge: Illustrative Empirical Patterns in Social Work, 1956-1973."
  * B.S., Sociology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 1972, extended major, including field work
  