Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese announced the appointment of J.B. Haws as the executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. Haws replaces Kristian Heal, who has served as the interim director since April.
“We are grateful for Spencer Fluhman’s leadership in forming the core of faculty scholars at the Maxwell Institute,” Reese said of Fluhman, who served as executive director from 2016 to 2023. “His contributions and infectious personality will be missed.”
“Kristian Heal has exhibited his love for the Maxwell Institute by leading the effort in this interim period,” Reese said.
Haws currently works as the chair of the Department of Church History and Doctrine.
“J.B. Haws is a respected colleague among the scholars in the Maxwell Institute,” Reese said. “His leadership will provide a strong sense of the prophetically declared vision of the Maxwell Institute by clarifying the mission, scope and audience of the Maxwell Institute publications and projects. J.B. will also provide strong connections to religious educators and other consumers of those projects. He is a bridge builder, and I have the utmost confidence in his ability to assume this role.”
Haws began working at BYU in 2011 as a faculty member in the College of Religious Education.
His research interests center on the place of Latter-day Saint history in twentieth- and twenty-first century America.
Before coming to BYU, Haws taught seminary in northern Utah.
Haws received a B.S. in history, mathematics and Spanish from Weber State University. He continued his education by earning an M.A. in religious education from BYU and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Utah.
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship both gathers and nurtures disciple-scholars. As a scholarly community, the Institute supports work that inspires and fortifies Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
