Skip to main content
Intellect

Leigh A. Johnson new associate director of BYU's Bean Museum

Larry St. Clair, director of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at Brigham Young University, has announced the appointment of Leigh A. Johnson as associate director for research and collections effective Jan. 3, 2012. 

Johnson replaces Jack Sites, who has served as associate director of the museum for the last five and a half years and who will continue as will continue as curator of the museum's reptile and amphibian collection. 

Johnson will now assume responsibility for the research and collections-related functions of the museum. For the last five years, he has served as curator of the herbarium (vascular plant collection), an assignment he will retain. He has also provided effective leadership for the herbarium’s databasing and digitization projects, a model for the museum’s other research collections.  Johnson is a faculty member in the Department of Biology at BYU.

During his tenure as associate director, Sites provided remarkable leadership and direction for the museum’s research efforts as well as curation of the museum’s research collections.  He was also instrumental in the museum’s successful reaccreditation process.

For more information, contact Patty Jones at 801-422-5053or visit mlbean.byu.edu

Johnson, Leigh_2669.jpg
Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU Photo

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Impossible Burgers at a summer BBQ? Impossible! Why plant-based alternatives are still just beyond reach for most people

August 14, 2025
Plant-Based Alternatives (PBAs) — such as the Impossible Burger — are becoming more common, and those who try them say they are actually quite good. And while companies are pouring billions into making PBAs taste just like their meat counterparts, they still aren’t catching on. So what’s the hold-up?
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Photographic memory: BYU boasts nation's top student photographer for third year in a row

August 05, 2025
One of BYU’s very own is the best student photographer in all the land. Information systems student Matthew Norton was just named the Student Photographer of the Year by the University Photographer’s Association of America.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Forum: Faith and flourishing in your life and work

July 29, 2025
Paul Lambert, the religion initiative director at the Wheatley Institute, shared in a BYU forum address how faith in Jesus Christ is more than just a personal foundation. It’s also a powerful force for good in the world around us.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=