Ajenai Clemmons

Dr. Ajenai Clemmons is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy. She researches the policing of marginalized communities in democratic contexts, particularly the United States and Europe. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on inequality and the politics of the American policymaking process as well as analysis of criminal justice policy.

Previously, Ajenai worked for the City and County of Denver as a Community Relations Ombudsman. She helped establish a new government agency, the Office of the Independent Monitor, that oversees investigations of misconduct in the police, sheriff, and fire departments. Ajenai then served as Policy Director for a national professional association of Black state legislators in Washington, D.C., keeping lawmakers apprised of policy issues and facilitating meetings with the White House, Administration, and Congress. There, she also helped build coalitions with the Native American, Asian American, and Hispanic legislative caucuses. Through the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Ajenai has helped build coalitions among under-represented groups in Europe, having led trainings in Belgium, Germany, Italy, and France.

Ajenai has served on several boards of directors, including the Women's Foundation of Colorado as Officer and Colorado Black Women for Political Action as Vice President. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University in Durham, NC and her Master of Public Policy from the University of Denver. Her B.A. in International Relations, Latin American History, and Spanish is from Drake University in Des Moines, IA, where she studied abroad in Chile and Guatemala.