About

Raised in San Jose, California, Dr. Klebig grew up surrounded by technology and media—his father worked in tech and his mother was a screenwriter and producer. After an early interest in cinematography, he shifted toward pastoral ministry. He received a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts and, after attending Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity.

Following four years of pastoral service in Florida, he pursued graduate study at the University of Central Florida where he received a Master of the Arts in Mass Communication. During that time he developed a love of research, which he pursued further at Michigan State University, where he helped establish the CARISMA Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Motion Capture Laboratory. He ultimately received a Ph.D. in Communication there.

Since joining Bethany in 2018, he has continued teaching, researching, and publishing while mentoring students in innovative approaches to communication and media studies. Dr. Klebig enjoys pursuing novel projects and has worked on a wide diversity of initiatives including projection mapping for an original play with Bethany's theater department, assisting the Department of Transportation with AI implementation, and being a founding member and organizer of the Meaningful XR (MXR) Conference.