Jenstad is a graduate of the University of Trondheim, where he received the degree candidatus philologiæ in 1982 with a thesis on the Sunndal dialect.

[1] He received his doctorate in 1995 with the dissertation Ein repetis i obligadur: norsk folkemusikkterminologi, med vekt på feletradisjonen (Ein repetis in obligadur: Folk Terminology in Norwegian Dialects with an Emphasis on Fiddle Tradition).

Jenstad focuses on communication, and his publications range from academic to popular research books and articles.

[8] Since 1992 he has featured on the NRK radio program "Dialektmagasinet" (Dialect Magazine), which is still broadcast weekly and now can be heard as podcasts.

[9] In 1993 he received the Nordmøre Mållag language prize, and in 1998 he received an award from the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture (the Torsten Jancke Memorial Fund) for his work on Norwegian dialectology.