Skip to main content
Intellect

James R. Rasband new associate academic vice president at BYU

Academic Vice President John S. Tanner has announced the appointment of James R. Rasband as the new associate academic vice president for faculty at Brigham Young University effective Jan. 14, 2008.

He replaces Richard N. Williams, who will be assuming another administrative and university leadership position in coming months.

“I appreciate the many years of dedicated service that Richard has provided to the university in this challenging assignment,” said Tanner. “I also welcome Jim with his superb background. His great combination of spirit, mind and heart will allow him to make a wonderful contribution in this critical assignment. I am grateful for his willingness to serve.”

Rasband’s primary responsibility will be supervising faculty hiring, rank and status matters and faculty personnel issues, said Tanner.

A BYU alumnus, Rasband received his juris doctorate from Harvard University in 1989. He was a law clerk in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and an attorney for Perkins Coie before joining the faculty at the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1995, where he is the Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law. He has served as associate dean for research and academic affairs since 2004.

His primary areas of expertise are public land law (including public lands legal history), water law, wilderness and grazing law, regulations covering the national park and national monuments and international environmental law.

He is a co-author, along with James Salzman at Duke University and Mark Squillace at the University of Colorado, of “Natural Resources Law and Policy,” a casebook that is used in law schools around the country.

Writer: Cecelia Fielding

JimRasband13.jpg
Photo by Bradley H. Slade/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Geology meets history: BYU professor studies WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches

June 05, 2025
Eighty years after D-Day, BYU geologists uncover lingering WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches to study how history still shapes the coastline today.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=