Honors Program Directory

Associate Teaching Professor, Instructional Psychology & Technology | McKay School

Why Honors? Honors courses at BYU cultivate intellectual curiosity, rigorous inquiry, creative engagement, and spiritual growth. They invite students and faculty to wrestle thoughtfully with complex ideas, forge meaningful connections across disciplines and between faith and scholarship, and develop the intellectual and spiritual capacities to contribute wisely in many contexts.

(801) 422-5288 | stephanie.allen@byu.edu | 150C MCKB

Professor, Music | Fine Arts & Communications


(801) 422-3688 | Christian_Asplund@byu.edu | 3209 MB

Associate Professor, Ancient Scripture | Religion

(801) 422-6853 | Daniel.Becerra@byu.edu | 270E JSB

Program Assistant, Honors Program | Exercise Science

Rylie is a sophomore from the Pacific Northwest and is an Exercise Science major, with a minor in Nutritional Science. She loves working in the Honors Program and getting to meet so many incredible people from all different backgrounds. Rylie enjoys sports, baking, chatting, and making new friends.

(801) 422-3036 | honorsprogram@byu.edu | 102 MSRB

Professor, Psychology | Family, Home and Social Sciences

Why Honors? Picture yourself in a world where curious minds aren't just a fancy decoration on a university brochure but a daily reality. You've got students around you who are more interested in debating the existence of dark matter or exploring... (more)

(801) 422-8583 | srbraithwaite@byu.edu | 286 TLRB

Professor, Comparative Arts & Letters | Humanities

Why Honors? The Honors program is a wonderful opportunity to get out of our normal academic comfort zones and dialogue with others while thinking together about fascinating and thorny questions, the kinds of questions... (more)

(801) 422-1616 | michael_j_call@byu.edu | 3039 JFSB

Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry | Computational, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences

(801) 422-2355 | david.dearden@byu.edu | C307 BNSN

Director, Honors Program | Undergraduate Education
Office Hours: Monday 1-2 PM, Tuesday 12:30-1:30 PM, or By Appointment

Why Honors? Honors is one of the crown jewels of BYU. It is an open and welcoming community of inquisitive students and faculty who seek ambitious godly growth through faith, study, and service with the goal to then transmit their light and knowledge to bless the world around them.

Eric Dursteler (Brown, 2000) is the De Lamar Jensen Professor of Early Modern History, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of Honors at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on the entangled history of the early modern Mediterranean, in particular gender, language, food and identity. (Read more)

(801) 422-5260 | Eric_Dursteler @byu.edu | 350C MSRB

Advisement Supervisor, Honors Program | Undergraduate Education

Vika manages all aspects of student advisement for the Honors Program. She is in charge of organizing different advisement workshops and student related events. She supervises the student-to-student advising and works directly with students... (more)

(801) 422-1997 | vika_filimoeatu@byu.edu | 102B MSRB

Associate Professor, French | Humanities

Why Honors? We are blessed to live in a beautifully and sometimes frustratingly complex world—the natural world, certainly, but our human world as well. Looking closely at the world from a single perspective can reveal some of its beauty and many of its problems, but the picture will never be complete. In the Honors Program we have the unique opportunity to bring perspectives together in illuminating ways. (Read more...)

(801) 422-3220 | cflood@byu.edu | 3134 JFSB

Program Assistant, Honors Program | Accounting

Michael is a junior from Alpine, Utah, majoring in Accounting and aspiring to work in investment banking or Big Four accounting. He loves working in the Honors Program and being inspired by incredible Honors students from across campus. Michael enjoys watching sports, playing basketball and golf, and all things music, including playing the cello and guitar.

(801) 422-3036 | honorsprogram@byu.edu | 102 MSRB

Senior Research Fellow, Maxwell Institute

terryl.givens@byu.edu | 1109 WVB

Professor, Ancient Scripture | Religion


(801) 422-2441 | matthew_grey@byu.edu | 365G JSB

Associate Professor, French & Italian| Humanities

Why Honors? Because Honors classes push us all--students and professors alike--to test new ideas, re-evaluate what we already know, and integrate that knowledge into our own realm of experience.

(801) 422-8179| jennifer_haraguchi@byu.edu | 3139 JFSB

Associate Professor, History | Family, Home and Social Sciences

Why Honors? To me, the Honors Program is exactly what a university should be: a group of self-motivated and eclectic students and professors with a wide range of backgrounds and specialties engaged in asking big questions of each other and of the world... (more)

(801) 422-2891 | jeff_hardy@byu.edu | 2144 JFSB

Professor, Experience Design & Mngmnt | Marriott School of Business

Why Honors? Honors classes provide the richest learning environments with a free flow of thoughts and possible connections between disparate thinkers and scientists. But, what I love most about Honors is the wonderful opportunity to do individual scientific work in the honors thesis—there is not a better way to prepare for graduate school. I also love the focus on great works and great questions and still choose some of my personal reading from a 45-year-old list of great works I have from the Honors of my freshman year at BYU .

(801) 422-1287 | brian_hill@byu.edu | W453 TNRB

Associate Professor, Music History | Fine Arts

Why Honors? The Honors program offers students opportunities to work together across disciplinary boundaries, sparking ideas and insights that not only change how we view our world, but also how we can begin...

(801) 422-1299 | lbhoward@byu.edu | 3059 MB

Associate Professor, Food Science | Life Sciences

Why Honors? I love BYU and its mission. While the typical student experience focuses on gaining proficiency in a single field of study, discovering the interconnectedness of seemingly unrelated disciplines is why BYU Honors excites me! Merging differences in viewpoints (read more...)

(801) 422-9290 | laura_jefferies@byu.edu | S-133 ESC

Professor, Teacher Education | McKay School

(801) 422-3241 | bryant_jensen@byu.edu | 206H MCKB

Professor, Biology | Life Sciences

Why Honors? I have been at BYU long enough to know where to find the good stuff—and a lot of it is in Honors Program. The Honors Program is a place where faculty and students foster a culture of curiosity, and where the integration of knowledge from all fields of academic learning is a priority. It also cultivates a remarkable place of belonging (read more...)

(801) 422-4502 | jerry.johnson@byu.edu |4033 LSB

Associate Professor, Microbiology & Molecular Biology | Life Sciences

Why Honors? I have always had a passion for acquiring new knowledge and learning new things. I used to tell people that if I were to win the proverbial lottery and not have to work, I would just live in a college town and pursue degree after degree acquiring as much knowledge and wisdom as possible. After becoming a professor at BYU... (read more)

(801) 422-9170 | stevenj@byu.edu | 3132 LSB

Professor, Computer Science | Physical & Mathematical Sciences

Why Honors? Because I still think about questions and ideas I encountered as an undergraduate computer science major in the BYU Honors program. Teaching an Honors class is a great way to join up with faculty and students to wrestle with difficult questions. Just like hiking, wrestling with difficult questions is hard work but the views are amazing.

(801) 422-2217 | jones@cs.byu.edu | 2224 TMCB

Associate Professor, English | Humanities

(801) 422-3383 | peter_leman@byu.edu | 4115 JFSB

Associate Professor, History | FHSS

Why Honors? It is like a giant factory outlet mall for all the best that the university has to offer (at an affordable price).

(801) 422-2145 | gmadsen@byu.edu| 2145 JFSB

Professor, Geography | Family, Home and Social Sciences

Why Honors? Honors can make a great education at BYU an outstanding one. The Honors experience I had as a BYU undergraduate was an invaluable part of my undergraduate education. I studied under outstanding faculty who came from a wide range of fields; I was immersed in classic literature; I was able to expand my testimony as I contemplated the gospel deeply in Honors religion class sections and special lectures; and I learned how to do research on an Honors thesis that became the stepping stone to my M.S. thesis.

(801) 422-7751 | samuel_otterstrom@byu.edu | 690F KMBL

Assistant Director, Honors Program | Undergraduate Education

Julie manages the operational and academic functions of the Honors Program. She works directly with faculty, Alcuin Fellows, Department Coordinators, graduate assistants, Honors communications team, program staff and TAs. She is the liaison... (more)

(801) 422-3038 | julie_radle@byu.edu | 102A MSRB

Associate Professor, Church History & Doctrine | Religion

Why Honors? The Honors Program brings together several elements that are at the heart of what I believe is a university: students who want to change the world, faculty who are energized by tackling big ideas, and an interdisciplinary space to think together.... (more)

(801) 422-4329 | andrew_reed@byu.edu | 316M JSB

Leadership Development Coordinator | Honors Program

Kurt’s involvement with the Honors Program started when he was an undergrad English major and took an Honors seminar co-taught by Jeffrey R. Holland (then BYU president) and Robert K. Thomas (the program’s founder)... (more)

(801) 422-3036 | sandholtz@byu.edu |102 MSRB

Professor, Exercise Science | Life Sciences

Why Honors? Simply put, the primary reason I chose to participate in BYU Honors is to learn more, more about myself and the world around me. I love learning. I also love teaching eager learners about what I have learned.

(801) 422-4970 | matt_seeley@byu.edu | 106 SFH

Associate Professor, Public Health | Life Sciences

Why Honors? In our increasingly complex and interconnected world, diverse ideas and perspectives are essential for addressing pressing global challenges. The Honors Program offers a unique platform to integrate multiple disciplines, (read more...)

(801) 422-0281 | lori.spruance@byu.edu| 2149 LSB

Professor, Art History | Humanities

(801) 422-2206 | james_swensen@byu.edu | 3054 JFSB

Associate Professor, English | Humanities

Why Honors? While I deeply enjoy my disciplinary home of literary studies, I find nothing more intellectually and spiritually strenthening than grappling with big questions alongside intellectually curious and spiritually grounded students and colleagues from diverse disciplinary and experiential backgrounds. Honors is a space of interdisciplinary reflection and knowledge creation that is grounded in a sincere pursuite of expansive, restorative truth.

(801) 422-2481 | mike_taylor@byu.edu | 4151 JFSB

Professor, Computer Science | Computations, Physical, and Mathematical Sciences

sean@cs.byu.edu | 2222 TMCB

Associate Professor, English | Humanities

Why Honors? As I see it, the Honors Program offers an enriched and challenging educational experience for academically talented and motivated students. These students benefit from personalized interactions with professors and individualized mentorship. I’m attracted to the program because... (more)

(801) 422-4938 | jarica_watts@byu.edu | 4198 JFSB

Professor, English | Humanities

Why Honors? My life has been enriched by the books I read, the conversations I had, and the mentors I found in my Honors courses (back in the—gulp—1990s), so I am eager to pay those blessings forward.

I once heard someone say, “I enjoy being around smart people, but if I had to choose, I would prefer being around good people.” I share that view. Fortunately, BYU connects me with people who want to be both smart and good. I’m grateful every day.

(801) 422-3048 | paw@byu.edu | 4149 JFSB

Professor, Family Life | Family, Home and Social Sciences

Why Honors? “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." The Honors classes challenge students to become deeper thinkers and better people, not just memorizers and test takers. Honors classes can light a fire of learning that will last a lifetime.

(801) 422-8177 | jason.whiting@byu.edu | 234 TLRB