Mr. Clydesdale received his B.S. degree from John Brown University with a major in Mathematics Education. Later he earned his master's degree in Mathematics from Illinois State University. In addition to this he has completed the course work necessary for a Ph.D. in computational mathematics.

Mr. Clydesdale's teaching career includes three years as a junior high school teacher, one year as a high school physics and chemistry teacher, two years as a mathematics lecturer at Illinois State University, over 20 years at the community college level. He has been a full time faculty member at Harper College since 2001. His interests include computational aspects of mathematics, camping, and motorcycles.