Every Tuesday at 11:05 a.m., students, faculty, staff and the greater BYU community attend the weekly devotional or forum address at the Marriott Center.
Most devotionals and forums will be broadcast live on BYUtv, BYUtv.org (and archived for on-demand streaming), KBYU-TV 11, Classical 89 FM and BYUradio and will be archived on speeches.byu.edu.
Please plan to join with students and employees each Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center for a truly unique experience as the campus gathers to receive spiritual and temporal edification.
FALL 2023 DEVOTIONAL AND FORUM SCHEDULE
September
- 12 – President C. Shane Reese and Sister Wendy Reese
- 19 – Inauguration Ceremony
- 26 – Akhil Reed Amar, American legal scholar (Forum)
October
- 3 – Abigail Allen, Marriott School of Business
- 10 – Elder Allen D. Haynie, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 17 – Homecoming Opening Ceremony
- 24 – Sister Kristin M. Yee, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 31 – John and Susan Tanner (Forum)
November
- 7 – Elder Gary B. Sabin, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 14 – Elder Quentin L. Cook, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 28 – W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project (Forum)
December
- 5 – Elder Matthew L. Carpenter, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 12 – Campus Christmas Devotional
ABOUT THE FALL 2023 DEVOTIONAL AND FORUM SPEAKERS:
President C. Shane Reese
September 12, Devotional
President C. Shane Reese was named BYU’s 14th president on March 21, 2023. He had been serving as the academic vice president at BYU since 2019. He previously served as dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017 to 2019 and joined the BYU statistics faculty in 2001.
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics from BYU and a doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M. His research has focused on sports analytics, Bayesian hierarchical models and optimal experimental design. He is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Laboratory.
President Reese has used his work in solving problems in professional sports franchises, national security and business. At BYU, he received the BYU Young Scholar Award and the BYU Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also the Melvin W. Carter Professor of Statistics. Prior to BYU, he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member.
He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Taiwan Taipei Mission from 1990 to 1992. He is currently serving as the first counselor in the Mapleton Utah North Stake, where he previously served as a bishop. He and his wife, Wendy Wood Reese, are the parents of three children.
Wendy Reese
September 12, Devotional
Wendy Wood Reese was born and raised in the small town of Holden, Utah, the fourth of five children. She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from BYU in 1995.
Sister Reese is known for her kindness, and she can often be found delivering treats to others. She loves baking and has her own side business making wedding cakes when she can find time from her other responsibilities. Sister Reese comes from a BYU family and loves the university and all it stands for.
Akhil Reed Amar
September 26, Forum
Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale College, summa cum laude, in 1980 and from Yale Law School in 1984, and clerking for then Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. He is Yale’s only living professor to have won the university’s unofficial triple crown — the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching and the Lamar Award for alumni service.
Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in over four dozen cases — tops among living non-emeritus scholars. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show “The West Wing,” and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts, including “The Colbert Report,” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Morning Joe,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream” and “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and several books. His latest and most ambitious book, “The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840,” came out in May 2021. He also has a free weekly podcast, “Amarica’s Constitution.”
Abigail Allen
October 3, Devotional
Abigail Allen is an associate professor of accounting in the Marriott School of Business at BYU. Prior to BYU, Professor Allen was a faculty member at Harvard Business School, where she taught in the MBA program, and prior to academia, Allen worked as an external auditor for Deloitte.
Allen holds a doctorate in business from Harvard Business School, where she was a recipient of the AICPA minority doctoral fellowship and KPMG PhD Project fellowship. She also holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Southern California and is a certified public accountant (CPA).
Her research focuses on the political economy and economic consequences of regulation in both the private and governmental sectors.
Elder Allen D. Haynie
October 10, Devotional
Elder Allen D. Haynie was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 4, 2015. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy in the North America West Area. He previously served as a member of the Philippines Area Presidency, North America Northeast Area Presidency and South America South Area Presidency. He is currently serving as Area President in the North America Northeast Area.
He has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Argentina Córdoba Mission, elders quorum president, Young Men president, seminary teacher, high councilor, bishop and stake president.
Elder Haynie received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1982 and a Juris Doctor in 1985, both from BYU. He practiced law for 25 years with the international law firm of Latham and Watkins. He subsequently opened his own law firm.
Sister Kristin M. Yee
October 24, Devotional
Sister Kristin M. Yee was sustained as Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 2, 2022. At the time of her call, she had been serving on the Primary General Advisory Council.
Sister Yee holds undergraduate degrees in fine arts from Brigham Young University–Idaho and BYU. She earned a Master of Public Administration from BYU.
She worked as an artist and producer at Disney Interactive Studios and now works for the Church as a manager of special projects for the Publishing Services Department. Her gospel-themed paintings include portraits of the Savior’s mortal ministry.
John S. Tanner
October 31, Forum
John S. Tanner worked as professor of English at Florida State and then BYU. He also served as the associate academic vice president and later the academic vice president of BYU in 2004. In 2015, he was invited to serve as the president of BYU–Hawaii.
Tanner has fulfilled numerous Church callings throughout his life, including bishop, stake president, mission president of the Brazil São Paulo South Mission and counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency.
He received a bachelor’s degree in English from BYU and a doctorate in English from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published numerous articles about literature and religion and, as a lover of music and poetry, authored the hymn “Bless Our Fast, We Pray.”
Susan Winder Tanner
October 31, Forum
Susan Winder Tanner graduated in humanities from BYU, with an emphasis in English and French. She was also very interested in nutrition. She loves to read, run, hike, cook and sew.
She is the mother of five children, one son and four daughters. More than anything, she loves being a wife, mother, and grandmother. She has 22 grandchildren, including a pair of twin girls and a special needs grandson.
Tanner has presided in all the women's organizations at both the ward and stake level and has been a temple ordinance worker. She has been on Church writing committees, and was a member of the Relief Society General Board for a few months before being called as Young Women General President in 2002. In 2009 she was called to write a book about the history and purpose of Relief Society, “Daughters in My Kingdom.”
Elder Gary B. Sabin
November 7, Devotional
Elder Gary B. Sabin was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 2, 2016. He has served as a counselor and President of the Europe Area (2016–2021) and is currently serving as Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department, member of the Welfare and Self-Reliance Committee, member of the Boundary and Leadership Committee and member of the North America West Area Presidency.
He has served in numerous Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Netherlands/Belgium Mission, elders quorum president, bishop, stake president and Area Seventy.
Elder Sabin received associate and bachelor’s degrees from BYU and a master’s degree from Stanford University. He was the founder and chairman/CEO of two New York Stock Exchange–listed companies focused on commercial real estate ownership. He was also the founder and chairman of Sabin Holdings, an international real estate firm. He has served as a director on several public company and nonprofit boards and is the founder of the Sabin Children’s Foundation, which provides children’s health care in third-world countries.
Elder Quentin L. Cook
November 14, Devotional
Elder Quentin L. Cook was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 6, 2007. Called as a General Authority in April 1996, he served in the Second Quorum, the First Quorum and the Presidency of the Seventy.
At the time of his call to be a General Authority of the Church, he was vice chairman of Sutter Health System. He had previously served as president and chief executive officer of a California healthcare system. Prior to that, he was a business lawyer and managing partner of a San Francisco Bay Area law firm. He also served on the governing boards of a number of civic and business-related corporations.
He is a native of Logan, Utah, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Utah State University, with honors, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Stanford University. Utah State University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
W. Bradford Wilcox
November 28, Forum
Brad Wilcox is a professor of sociology and the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Wilcox earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar, and his Ph.D. in sociology at Princeton University. Prior to coming to U.Va., he held research fellowships at Princeton University and Yale University.
Wilcox's research focuses on the quality and stability of marriage and family life in the United States and around the globe. Dr. Wilcox is the author and co-editor of five books, including “Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization” and “Gender and Parenthood: Biological and Social Scientific Perspectives.”
He has published articles on marriage, cohabitation, parenting and fatherhood in The American Sociological Review, The Journal of Marriage and Family and The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. His research is featured regularly in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, NPR, National Review, Deseret News and other media outlets.
Elder Matthew L. Carpenter
December 5, Devotional
Elder Matthew L. Carpenter was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 31, 2018. At the time of his call, Elder Matthew L. Carpenter had been serving as a member of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy in the North America Central Area. He has served as an assistant to the Utah Area Presidency, as a counselor in the North America Central Area Presidency and on various committees at Church Headquarters. He is currently serving as First Counselor in the Africa Central Area Presidency.
He received a bachelor of science degree in business management from BYU in 1983. In 1987 he received a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
During his professional career, he has worked as chief financial officer, president and chief executive officer of various commercial financial institutions.
