Every Tuesday at 11:05 a.m., students, faculty, staff and the greater BYU community attend the weekly devotional or forum address. Unless specifically marked below, the devotionals and forums will be held in the BYU 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 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.
Spring + Summer 2024 Devotional and Forum Schedule
May
- 7 Grant Jensen, College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
- 14 Michelle Bennett, Office of Information Technology
- 21 Rick Jellen, College of Life Sciences, Distinguished Faculty Lecture (forum)
June
- 4 Ali Crandall, College of Life Sciences
- 11 Brad Owens, Marriott School of Business
- 25 Kimberly Jenkins, College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
July
- 2 Ellen Knell, Center for Language Studies, College of Humanities
- 9 Rick Gill, Undergraduate Education
- 16 Tonya Fischio, College of Life Sciences
- 30 Kim Clark, Marriott School of Business, (forum)
- Joseph Smith Building Auditorium
August
- 6 Darron Billeter, Marriott School of Business
- 20 Elder Neil L. Andersen, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Education Week)
About the Spring + Summer Speakers
Grant Jensen
May 7, Devotional
Grant Jensen began serving as the dean of the College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences on November 1, 2020. Prior to coming to BYU, Jensen was a professor of biophysics and the director of the Caltech Center for Cryo-EM at the California Institute of Technology. He has pioneered the field of electron cryotomography, an imaging technique used to produce high-resolution 3D views of cells and viruses. He has nearly 200 publications, many in top peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature and Cell. He summarized the highlight discoveries of his career in a free online textbook, The Atlas of Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Structure. To train the next generation of cryo-EM researchers, he developed and recorded a popular series of lectures, “Getting Started in Cryo-EM,” with over a million modules viewed so far.
Jensen received a Ph.D. in biophysics from Stanford University working under future Nobel Laureate Roger Kornberg and then did postdoctoral work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at BYU, with a minor in mathematics, and was named the 1994 valedictorian for his college.
Michelle Bennett
May 14, Devotional
Michelle Bennett is an assistant vice president of information technology, a role she has held since December. Bennett has been with OIT for more than 12 years and most recently worked as the technology planning center managing director for OIT and CES. Prior to joining BYU, she spent 17 years with Novell in various roles.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She earned a master’s in computer information systems from the University of Phoenix.
Rick Jellen
May 21, Forum
Rick Jellen is a professor of genetics in the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences. He graduated from BYU in agronomy. He also completed a doctorate in plant breeding from the University of Minnesota. Jellen worked at Kansas State University for four years before moving to BYU in 1996. He has taught classes in genetics, biology, plant sciences, religion, the Honors Program and agricultural development. He has also served as department chair and associate dean and been involved with first-year experience programs.
His research focus is on genetic effects of chromosome rearrangements in oats and quinoa and extends to applications in neodomestication of a Moroccan high-protein oat and adaptive breeding of quinoa in the lowland tropics and subtropics.
Ali Crandall
June 4, Devotional
Ali Crandall is an associate professor of public health in the BYU College of Life Sciences. Crandall received her bachelor’s degree in community health education from BYU, her Master of Public Health (MPH) from Loma Linda University and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to her Ph.D. program she worked for eight years in domestic and international settings on public health programs focused on strengthening individual health through family interventions.
Her primary research interests include family health measurement, understanding how childhood experiences affect lifelong health, and mental health in adolescents and adults.
Brad Owens
June 11, Devotional
Brad Owens is a professor of business ethics in the Marriott School of Business at BYU. Under the general umbrella of positive psychology, his research focuses on humility, resilience and hope. His work has been cited in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Fast Company and the BBC. His teaching interests include business ethics, organizational behavior and leadership.
Owens received a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Washington. He also earned an MPA and bachelor’s degree in human development from BYU.
Kimberly Jenkins
June 25, Devotional
Kimberly Jenkins has been the communications director for the BYU College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences since 2017. In this capacity, she oversees all aspects of communications within the college, and she recently led the college’s 50th Anniversary campaign. In addition to her role as communications director, Jenkins serves on the university's Academic Support Unit Review Council.
Jenkins earned her bachelor's degree in public relations from BYU and worked at Edelman Public Relations before joining BYU in the Computer Science Department in 2012. In her role, she oversaw external relations and advised undergraduate students during a time of tremendous growth in the department. She also supported the Center for Animation during this time.
Ellen Knell
July 2, Devotional
Ellen Knell works as the associate director of curriculum and instruction at the Center for Language Studies and as an assistant professor at BYU, where she supervises over 60 less commonly taught languages and coordinates the Dual Language Immersion endorsement.
Knell has spent more than 10 years in Asia and is a Chinese (Mandarin) speaker. After teaching in a number of international schools in Hong Kong and consulting for English immersion in Xi'an, China, she attended graduate school at Hong Kong University and then the University of Utah. Following the completion of her Ph.D., she worked for the Utah State Board of Education and BYU Chinese Flagship, supervising Chinese language programs. She loves working with graduate students, and recent research has focused on the neuroscience of multilingualism using eye tracking, EEG and brain imaging.
Rick Gill
July 9, Devotional
Rick Gill has been dean of undergraduate education since July 1, 2022. He works with students on research and outreach projects related to environmental sustainability and indigenous knowledge in Utah, Samoa, New Zealand and Hawaii. He is a passionate advocate for undergraduate students and has been instrumental in developing the UNIV 101: BYU Foundations for Student Success course.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU and a Ph.D. in ecology from Colorado State University. He conducted postdoctoral research at Duke University before he began his first faculty position at Washington State University. He served a Samoan-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Auckland, New Zealand.
Tonya Fischio
July 16, Devotional
Tonya Fischio is the assistant dean of communications for the College of Life Sciences. In this role, she has the privilege of sharing BYU’s unique light through stories of students and faculty who are integrating faith and science to enhance scholarship, make new discoveries and find solutions for the benefit of the world.
Fischio has worked at BYU for over 20 years, previously at the BYU Law School and the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. Prior to her time at BYU, Fischio worked at Nu Skin International in crisis communications, media relations and investor relations. She received her bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations from Brigham Young University.
Kim Clark
July 30, Forum
Kim Clark currently works as a professor in the Marriott School of Business at BYU. Prior to teaching at BYU, Clark served as the Commissioner of Church Education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During that time, he also served as a General Authority Seventy.
Clark received a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and a Ph.D., all in economics, from Harvard University. He became a faculty member at the Harvard Business School in 1978 and was named dean of that school in 1995. He served in that capacity until the summer of 2005, when he was named the president of Brigham Young University–Idaho.
Darron Billeter
August 6, Devotional
Darron Billeter is an associate professor of marketing at BYU, where he has taught since 2008. His research focuses on consumer judgment and decision-making.
Billeter earned a Ph.D. and master’s degree in industrial administration (marketing) from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and management science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in statistics from BYU.
Elder Neil L. Andersen
August 20, Devotional
Elder Neil L. Andersen was named an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 4, 2009. Elder Andersen was serving as the senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy prior to his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve. He was named a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1993, at age 41. He previously led the work of the Church in southern Brazil and, again as a member of an area presidency, oversaw the Church in Western Europe. Prior to his call as a General Authority, Elder Andersen served as a mission president in the France Bordeaux Mission and as president of the Tampa Florida Stake.
He graduated from BYU, where he was a Hinckley Scholar, and he earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.
