Name: Jason Carroll
BYU employee since: 2001
My job at BYU is… I am a professor in the School of Family Life, and I am currently serving as the Associate Director of the Wheatley Institution. Mostly, I oversee and publish large research projects on various aspects of marriage and family life and I teach the SFL 200 course The Eternal Family – a course in the School of Family Life that fulfills the Religion Cornerstone requirement.
Currently I’m working on… directing several projects sponsored by the Wheatley Institution. The largest is an 11-country study examining the effects of religious devotion on marriage and family life – which is finding that across various regions of the globe the highest quality marriages are those where both spouses are actively participating in faith practices in their home and at their church.
I’m currently reading… a lot of research studies on religion and families (I’m primarily a marriage researcher, so my current study is one that is pushing my learning curve quite a bit!).
A great professor, Dr. Tom Holman, who took a personal interest in me and invited me to help with his research …sparked my interest in my field. He was a true mentor.
The best advice I’ve ever received about teaching… is to be as authentic and real as possible in the classroom, because it’s always obvious when a teacher is trying to be someone they’re not.
My go-to BYU Creamery ice cream flavor is… Raspberry Sherbet.
My favorite quote is… “The LDS scholar has his citizenship in the kingdom, but carries his passport into the professional world – not the other way around.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell
My second favorite quote is… “To escape criticism – say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” Elbert Hubbard
My favorite lecture to teach is… my lesson on equal partnership in marriage, because I believe it is the most important marker of a truly loving and lasting marriage.
I chose to come to BYU because… I fell in love with the spirit on this campus when I was a freshman here many years ago.
