Cougar Queries is a series profiling BYU employees by asking them a few simple questions about their work, interests and life.
Name: Jeff Hill
BYU employee since: 1998
My job at BYU is... to be a professor in the School of Family Life. I teach students how to strengthen their present and future families.
Currently I?m working on... re-inventing SFL 260, Family Finance. This is the most practical course at BYU which teaches students the most important things they need to know to successfully manage their finances (e.g., budgeting, credit, investing, home-buying, car-buying, insurance, taxes, etc.)
I'm currently reading... Till Debt Do Us Part: Balancing finances, feelings, and family, by Bernard Poduska
I get most excited about my work when... I am working with bright research assistants and they do most of the work!
I get so excited about teaching that... on the first day of class usually wake up at 3 a.m. and can?t go back to sleep.
What makes teaching the greatest job in the world is... the bright students here at BYU. I also like it when the students laugh at my jokes.
My favorite lecture to teach is... "Money and Sex" :)
My advice to incoming freshman is... "Don't do dumb things."
I've been a BYU fan since... before I was conceived
I've hiked Y Mountain... dozens of times. I was on the BYU track team in the 1970s and I once ran from the old Deseret Towers to the "Y" and back in less than an hour.
My favorite spot on campus is... wherever I happen to be at the time.
My advice to students of all majors... sign up for the School of Family Life minor to prepare you for the most important work you will ever do (the work within the walls of your own home).
One thing you don't know about me is... my wife and I are blending a family with 12 children and 21 grandchildren. The closest grandchild lives 600 miles from Provo. We get lots of frequent flyer miles. :)
On Saturday mornings you'll find me... running on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail
My go-to comfort smell is... lavender (essential oil).
Three things that are always found in my refrigerator are... carrot juice, humus, and homemade raspberry jam.
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