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BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY |
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Home BYU StudiesStaff
Jul 19, 2008
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 John W. Welch was educated at Brigham Young University (B.A. history 1970; M.A. Latin and Greek 1970), studied Greek philosophy at Oxford University (St. Edmund Hall 1970–72) and law at Duke University (J.D.
1975). He is the Robert K. Thomas Professor of Law at the BYU J.
Reuben Clark Law School, where he teaches tax classes and also courses on law in the ancient Near East, the Old and New Testaments, and the Book of Mormon, and a seminar on Joseph Smith and the law. He is the author of many books and articles, and his editing experiences include: Articles Editor of the Duke Law Journal (1974–75), series editor and editor of several volumes in the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, one of the editors of Macmillan's Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1988–92), and editor of BYU Studies since 1991. Founder of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (in 1979) and Director of Special Projects in the BYU Religious Studies Center (1986-88), he has been involved in numerous research projects dealing with LDS scripture, history, culture, and thought, including chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and volumes on Isaiah, King Benjamin's speech, Lehi's Jerusalem, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the Sermon on the Mount. He has served twice as a bishop and also as a counselor in the BYU 14th Stake presidency. He is married to Jeannie Sutton; they have four children and eight grandchildren.
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Gideon Burton has served as Associate Editor at BYU Studies since 2003
and in 2006 was made Senior Associate Editor of BYU Studies. A native of Salt Lake City, he did undergraduate work
at the University of Utah and received his BA in English from Brigham Young University. He received his PhD and a Master of
Professional Writing at the University of Southern California. A member of the English faculty at BYU since 1994, he specializes
in Renaissance rhetoric, Mormon literature, and digital scholarship.
He created and maintains Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric
and leads the team that has created and runs the
Mormon Literature Database, a reference and full-text database for Mormon literary writings and LDS films. A past president of
the Association for Mormon Letters, he has tried
to promote more and better criticism about Mormon art. Recently he and Monica Blume published For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption
(Deseret Book, 2005). He is bishop of his ward in Springville, Utah, where he lives with his wife, Karen, and his four sons.
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Roger joined the BYU Studies team in June 2006 after serving
seven years as a senior editor at the Ensign and the Liahona. Prior to that he was, as his wife likes to put it,
self-unemployed (running his own business, the funcompany, but not making much money). In a former life, he taught for nine years at
BYU’s Marriott School of Management and edited the school’s alumni magazine. Roger earned a BA in German and an MBA, both
from BYU. He likes to write books in his dwindling spare time. Four have been published—two fiction, two nonfiction. The rest are
waiting to be discovered. He is married to Sheri Peterson, and they have four children, two currently studying at BYU. Roger enjoys
playing basketball (at an ever-slower pace), reading everything from cosmology to economics, watching way too many athletic events,
teaching, playing piano and guitar, writing letters to the editor, eating chocolate, and watching his kids do yard work.
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Before his position at BYU Studies, James Summerhays was New Media Editor at
Deseret Book and most recently an Administrator in the Continuing Education
Department at BYU. Having been involved in the publishing world in some
capacity since the time he was sixteen, he has always been fascinated with
different mediums of communicating ideas. “Communication, whether it be in art,
music, or the written word has always been my passion. The challenge of
expressing a lofty idea with clarity and persuasion has always intrigued me. I
never tire of it. If there were a way to perfectly capture the true essence of
the Restoration through a symphony, or if there were a way that the clever turn
of a phrase could powerfully capture the reality of some exalted principle,
then I am interested in that way.” James has published numerous articles and
has recently produced the documentary Witness the Restoration: The Smith Family
Artifacts and Their Story. James and his wife Mary have five children,
and he enjoys golf, composition, art, basketball (at least back when he could
jump), and reading ‘till all hours of the night.
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Jennifer Hurlbut is a managing editor at BYU Studies. She received a B.A. in
international relations from BYU. Introduced to BYU Studies by her parents'
subscription and by her friends Annette and Eric Samuelsen, she started as a
volunteer in 1994 and never left. She is grateful for the training she received
from Doris Dant, Nancy Lund, and Angela Ashurst-McGee. Jennifer enjoys editing
the BYU Studies journals and books: her favorite projects to date are BYU
Studies special issues on Masada and on Islam and the book Educating
Zion. She is married to Jesse Hurlbut, Associate Professor of French
at BYU; they are the parents of four children. Before settling in Utah, they
lived in France, California, Indiana, and Kentucky.
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 Heather Seferovich earned an M.A. in American social history BYU. In addition to winning state grants and writing lesson plans for elementary and secondary students, she has published encyclopedia and magazine articles, textbook modules, family histories, and tourist brochures.
She originally was hired at BYU to work on The Story of Masada and The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibitions. As Coordinator of Public Programs at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, she team taught museum practices classes, trained docents, and oversaw public relations efforts.
In 1999 she accepted an editing position at BYU Studies, where she worked on publications for the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History. Since that time she has edited over fifty books on Mormon history.
Currently, as Senior Executive Editor at BYU Studies, she splits her time between duties on the Joseph Smith Papers project and the journal.
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Robert Spencer got his start at BYU Studies in March 1999, after graduating
from BYU with a B.A. in English. He is the production editor for all BYU
Studies journals. He has overseen the desktop publishing for more than 12
issues of BYU Studies and many other projects during his four years. Some of
those major projects include Trial Furnace Art Belief Meaning, Homeward to
Zion, Nauvoo, the Church Archive DVDs, and several dissertations.
Robert’s passions include classical and folk music, soccer, international
peoples and cultures, his wife, Alison Hill Spencer, and their two sons.
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 Annette
Samuelsen is the office/subscription manager for BYU Studies. She started at
BYU Studies in 1995 by handling all financial matters. Currently she deals with
orders and subscriptions, hiring, payroll, and billing. Annette enjoys working
with and helping the subscribers and customers. She also likes to read the
personal essays in the journal. Annette, her husband, Eric Samuelsen—a member
of BYU Studies editorial board—and their four children reside in Provo, Utah.
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 Liza Olsen started at BYU Studies in February of 2003. Her work includes tracking article submissions and book reviews, handling contracts, facilitating editorial boards, and assisting in the organization of the
BYU Studies Academy. This group functions in an advisory capacity to the editors and the editorial boards of the journal and is comprised of scholars and experts in many fields. These men and women bring ideas for issues and articles, books to be reviewed, special projects, and support for the overall future of BYU Studies. Liza enjoys the outstanding people with whom she comes in contact at BYU Studies. She studied English at BYU, speaks German and loves food and traveling. Liza and her husband, Michael Olsen, have six children. |
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Eden Rasmussen was hired in September 2000 as a writer for
BYU Studies’ LDSFAQ website (specially made for the Winter 2002 Olympics), which attempts to answer frequently asked questions about the Church. Upon receiving her B.A. in humanities, Eden became the full-time web editor for BYU Studies. Now Eden maintains several websites and provides computer support for BYU Studies. Her most recent projects include the Charles Rich DVD Library, the CD for the latest Spencer W. Kimball biography titled Lengthen Your Stride, as well the Joseph Smith Chronology website. One of the first projects she worked on at BYU Studies was the production of a two-volume set of DVDs: Selected Collections from the Archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before working for BYU Studies, Eden worked as an editorial intern for FARMs and a compiler for Bookcraft. She is the owner of a small business called Eden’s Garden of Flowers and enjoys reading and traveling; she is a connoisseur of fine art and dark chocolate.
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Josh is a recent graduate of the program
in religion and the arts at Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred
Music. He teaches a course on the Doctrine and Covenants in the department of religion and is also adjunct professor in the Marriott School of Management, where he teaches a course in management communications. With a strong interest in nineteenth-century material culture, he has published articles and presented papers on Mormon architectural and iconographic history. He is enthusiastically
involved in BYU Studies projects regarding LDS perspectives
on New Testament scholarship and other projects. |
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Richard Bennett (chair), Brian Q. Cannon, Kathryn Daynes, Steven C. Harper, Steven Sorensen, and Frederick G. Williams.
Gideon Burton (chair), Mark Johnson, Richard G. Oman, Steven C. Walker, and David P. Laraway, John M. Murphy.
Eric R. Samuelsen
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel (chair), William S. Dant, and Thomas R. Wells.
Eric Eliason and John M. Murphy
Donna Lee Bowen (chair), Randall Hall.
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