Kevin J Worthen

Kevin J Worthen
13th President of Brigham Young University
Assumed office
May 1, 2014
Preceded by Cecil O. Samuelson
Personal details
Born (1956-04-15) April 15, 1956
Dragerton, Utah
Nationality United States
Spouse(s) Peggy Sealey Worthen
Children 3
Alma mater Brigham Young University (B.A., J.D.)
College of Eastern Utah (A.S.)
Profession Academic administrator, professor of law, attorney
Religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Website Office of the President

Kevin J Worthen (born April 15, 1956)[1] is the 13th and current president of Brigham Young University (BYU). He served previously at BYU as the Advancement Vice President and as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. Worthen is an area seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Biography

Worthen is a native of Carbon County, Utah and was raised in Dragerton, Utah. He served as an LDS missionary in Monterrey, Mexico. Worthen earned an associate's degree from the College of Eastern Utah (CEU), where he was co-captain of the varsity basketball team and graduated co-valedictorian in 1978. While at CEU, Worthen worked summers as a coal miner. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in political science from BYU in 1979.[2]

In 1982, Worthen graduated summa cum laude and first in his class from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School. He earned the distinction of Order of the Coif. Following graduation, he clerked for Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for Associate Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White.[2] He practiced law in Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1987 with the law firm of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon.[3]

Dean, J. Reuben Clark Law School

In 1987, Worthen returned to BYU as a member of the Law School faculty and served as dean of the Law School from 2004 to 2008.[4] As a Fulbright Scholar, he also spent a year working as a visiting instructor at University of Chile Law School. Worthen is a recognized expert in American Indian law, and his theories on cultural and ethnic assimilation are also widely repeated.[5] Worthen was a 1995 contributor to Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law,[2] and in 2002, served as vice-chair of the Utah Constitution Revision Commission.[6] While working for BYU, Worthen has served as faculty athletic representative to the NCAA for four years and as chair of the University Athletic Advisory Council from 1992 to 2000. He has also been the Hugh W. Colton professor at BYU.

Worthen has written articles on issues related to Native American law and marriage definition in law. He also wrote an article entitled The NCAA and Religion: Issues of non-state governance that was published in the Utah Law Review.[7]

BYU Advancement Vice President

In June 2008, Worthen was appointed BYU's Advancement Vice President, with responsibility for university relations, communications, athletics, and philanthropies.[8] In 2010 Worthen was made the chair of the membership review committee of the Association of American Law Schools.[9]

BYU President

On March 11, 2014, Henry B. Eyring, First Vice Chairman of the BYU Board of Trustees announced that effective May 1, 2014, Worthen would succeed Cecil O. Samuelson as the president of BYU.[10] Worthen was officially inaugurated as the 13th president of BYU on September 9, 2014, in a special devotional assembly. Eyring gave the installation charge and spoke at the event. Other members of the board were also in attendance, along with former BYU presidents and presidents of other universities.[11]

In April 2016, Worthen announced the appointment of a BYU committee to investigate how to improve handling alleged sexual assault situations involving students.[12] Based on the committee's recommendations, BYU adopted policies that provided amnesty for honor code investigations for actions taken at or near the time women were sexually assaulted. Other changes included having the Title IX Office report directly to the student life vice president, and the physically separating the location of the two offices, relative to one another. The Title IX Office will include a full-time director.[13]

Personal life

Worthen and his wife, Peggy Sealey Worthen, are the parents of three children and live in Provo, Utah.[14]

In April 2010, Worthen became an area seventy in the LDS Church.[15] Worthen served previously in the church as a bishop and as president of the Provo Utah Sharon East Stake from 2007 to 2010.[14]

Notes

References

Academic offices
Preceded by
Cecil O. Samuelson		 President of Brigham Young University
May 1, 2014 – 		Incumbent
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