Skip to main content
Intellect

Ronald W. Walker wins best article award from Mormon History Association

A professor of history and senior research professor at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University was recently honored with the T. Edgar Lyon Best Article of the Year Award from the Mormon History Association.

Ronald W. Walker’s article, “Grant’s Watershed: Succession in the LDS Presidency, 1887-1889,” was published in BYU Studies in 2004.

This was the third time in three years that Walker has received the award. In 2003 he was honored for an article on “Mormon and Native American Relations.” In 2004, he and co-author Paul Peterson of BYU Religious Studies received the award for their piece on the observance of the Word of Wisdom during the administration of President Brigham Young.

He is currently working on a biography of Heber J. Grant as well as articles on Utah’s 19th-century experience, Brigham Young’s Indian policy and letters to Indian chiefs and the historical development of the Word of Wisdom.

Walker received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BYU, a master’s degree from Stanford University and a doctoral degree from the University of Utah.

For more information, contact Ronald Walker at (801) 328-3314.

Writer: James McCoy

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Want to thrive in your 30s? BYU study says education and service in your 20s are key

July 16, 2025
New BYU research shows that hitting the books and helping others in your 20s leads to a happier, more regret-free life in your 30s.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Wildflowers not wildfires: How BYU and Provo City are helping to restore Rock Canyon Trailhead

July 10, 2025
At Rock Canyon Trailhead in Provo, Utah, BYU researchers are fighting fires with flowers. By replacing a problematic weed called cheatgrass with wildflowers, students and faculty are working to protect and restore one of Provo’s most popular hiking spots.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
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=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=