Susan Sessions Rugh, associate dean of Brigham Young University's College of Family, Home and Social Sciences and professor of American history, will present "Our Journey into the Wilderness" at a university devotional Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center.

The devotional will be broadcast live on the BYU Broadcasting channels. Visit byub.org/devotionals or speeches.byu.edu for rebroadcast and archive information.

During her address, Rugh will discuss Lehi's journey into the wilderness and will share stories and photos from her yearly canoe trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Rugh specializes in the history of travel and tourism and in the history of rural America. She began teaching at BYU in 1997 and has since published two books, "Our Common Country" in 2001 and "Are We There Yet? The Golden Age of American Family Vacations" in 2008.

She is also the author of many articles on rural America and the history of travel and tourism. Her article on Utah's promotion of tourism, published in the Western Historical Quarterly, won the Michael Malone Award from the Western Historical Association and a Best Article Award from the Utah Historical Society in 2007.

Rugh holds a bachelor’s degree in history from BYU and master's and doctoral degrees in American history from the University of Chicago.