Colton Professor of Law, Worthen specializes in federal Indian law and the rights of indigenous peoples. Reuben Clark Law School as a faculty member and Worthen jumped at the chance. In 1987, BYU came calling with an opportunity to return to the J. In 1984, Worthen joined the respected law firm Jennings Strouss & Salmon in Arizona, but his promising law-firm career proved to be short lived. Circuit Court and then for Justice Byron R. Graduating summa cum laude with both his bachelor's and juris doctor degrees, Worthen left BYU in 1982 to clerk for Judge Malcolm R. They now have three children and five grandchildren. The two were married in 1978 soon after Worthen transferred to BYU for his bachelor's degree. 'I didn't need to buy a program because he's a walking, talking program.'Īfter serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Monterrey, Mexico, Worthen dated Peggy Sealey while finishing an associate degree at CEU and working summers in a local coal mine. Lifelong friend Brad King says it's illuminating to sit with Worthen at a game, as he seems to know everything about every player on both teams.

With just a couple of exceptions, his family has made an annual pilgrimage to BYU's conference basketball tournament since 1993.

'I couldn't imagine anything more fun.' Half a century later, his feelings haven't changed much. 'I had died and gone to heaven,' he recalls of watching that game in person. At age 10, he attended his first basketball game in the Smith Fieldhouse, cheering on a squad that would win the National Invitational Tournament. Worthen has been an avid and vocal fan of Cougar sports since his childhood, when he'd tune in to games on the radio. the camaraderie among the team, the competition, seeing hard work pay off.' 'That was my life: I ate, slept, and played basketball,' says Worthen, who was an all-state center as a high school senior and later a captain for the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) Eagles. But more than anything, his teen years were defined by sports-especially basketball. Worthen was involved in just about every opportunity offered him: he was on the debate team, wrote for the school newspaper, sang in the choir, and played cornet in the band. 'He's just one of those guys smart in everything.' And yet, he notes, 'Kevin was not one who would show off how smart he was.' Craig Smith, now an attorney in Salt Lake City. 'He did very well at science classes he did very well at math classes,' remembers childhood friend J. His father, a math teacher and later Worthen's junior high school principal, had found work in rural Carbon County and later moved the family 20 miles west to Price.įriends and family remember Worthen as a precocious child-an early reader who thrived in school.

From an early-childhood fascination with the university to degrees in political science and law to years as a professor and administrator, Worthen has been inspired by the mission and ideals of Brigham Young University.īorn April 15, 1956, in tiny Dragerton, Utah, Worthen was the last of four children. It's an apt summation, as this institution has framed much of Worthen's life.

But when asked to introduce himself at the press conference following the March 2014 announcement of his new position, Worthen kept it simple: 'I'm a BYU guy through and through.' In describing Kevin J Worthen, 13th president of Brigham Young University, friends and colleagues use a variety of descriptors, some of them seemingly contradictory: brilliant yet unassuming, physically towering yet down-to-earth, visionary yet deferential.

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