David Blyth Magleby (born October 20, 1949) [1] is an American political scientist and distinguished professor of political science at Brigham Young University (BYU) and formerly the dean of the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at that institution. He is an expert on direct democracy and campaign finance.
Magleby is the author of several books. His first, Direct Legislation, is considered the seminal work on initiatives and referendums. Along with the other works Magleby has written, he is the lead editor of a series on presidential election finance, including Financing the 2008 Election. He has also written several works on issues related to soft money in campaigns. In 1990, he served on a bipartisan Senate task force on campaign finance reform and his book on the subject, The Money Chase, was published by the Brookings Institution. [2] In addition, Magleby authors a best-selling American government textbook, Government by the People, which, as of late 2012, was in its 25th edition.
Prior to joining the faculty of BYU, Magleby was a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Virginia. Magleby received his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
At BYU, Magleby has served as dean, department chair, and founding director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy (CSED). He also established the KBYU/Utah Colleges exit poll. Every election year, the poll mobilizes several hundred college students from Utah college campuses to gather data about Utah voters and elections. BYU students design the survey and sample. On Election Night, Magleby hosts a television program where students present the results of the poll.
Magleby served as president of political science honors society Pi Sigma Alpha from 1994 to 1996. He was twice awarded the Pi Sigma Alpha Distinguished Faculty Award in Political Science. Other political science organizations he has joined include the American Political Science Association, the International Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, and the Western Political Science Association.
Magleby is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). [3] As such, his comments have been sought on Mormon political issues, [4] such as gay marriage and Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. [3] He has also contributed articles on politics to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism and the Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History. [5] Despite the Republican image of his LDS faith and home state of Utah, Magleby is a Democrat. [6] [7] [8] Magleby is known for a profile he developed of the ideal Mormon Democrat, in what has been called the "Magleby profile." [9]
David Magleby is married to Linda Waters Magleby, [10] and they have four children. He resides in Provo, Utah. [11]
Jeffrey Roy Holland is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the third most senior apostle in the church.
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Joseph Fielding McConkie was a professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author or co-author of over 25 books.
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Ned Cromar Hill is the American National Advisory Council professor of business management and was dean of the Marriott School of Business (MSB) at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1998 to 2008. From 2011 to 2014, he served as president of the Romania Bucharest Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
George Wendell Pace was an American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was a popular writer and speaker on religion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and part of a public criticism voiced by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in 1982.
Dean Cornell Jessee is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith Jr.
Scott Ray Woodward is a microbiologist and molecular biologist who specializes in genetic genealogy and ancient DNA studies. He was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1989 to 2003. He was the president and principal investigator for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation between 2005 and 2012, and the chief scientific officer from 2007 to 2012 at Genetree. He was the executive director of Genomic Study at Ancestry.com from 2012 to 2015. Since 2012 he has also taught at Utah Valley University. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Noel Beldon Reynolds is an American political scientist and an emeritus professor of political science at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he has also served as an associate academic vice president and as director for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS). He was a member of the BYU faculty from 1971 to 2011. He has also written widely on the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a member.
Boyd Jay Petersen is program coordinator for Mormon Studies at Utah Valley University (UVU) and teaches English and literature at UVU and Brigham Young University (BYU). He has also been a biographer of Hugh Nibley, a candidate for the Utah House of Representatives, and president of the Association for Mormon Letters. He was named editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought for the term 2016-2020.
Richard Douglas Poll was an American historian, academic, author and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His liberal religiosity influenced his notable metaphor about "Iron Rod" vs. "Liahona" LDS Church members.
Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.
Spencer John Palmer was a chronicler of the development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Asia as well as a major player in these developments. He was a historian of Korea, a scholar of comparative world religions, and wrote many books on these and related topics. He was a key figure in the second generation of Korean studies scholars in the United States.
Matthew Scott Holland has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2020. He previously served as the 6th president of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, and its first president after UVU was granted university status.
Grant Revon Underwood is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is also the author of The Millennial World of Early Mormonism and the editor of Voyages of Faith: Explorations in Mormon Pacific History.
Ellis Theo Rasmussen was an American professor and dean of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University (BYU). He helped produce the edition of the Bible published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979.
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Early in its history, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a series of negative encounters with the federal government of the United States. This led to decades of mistrust, armed conflict, and the eventual disincorporation of the church by an act of the United States Congress. The relationship between the church and the government eventually improved, and in recent times LDS Church members have served in leadership positions in Congress and held other important political offices. The LDS Church becomes involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level with over a dozen members of Congress having membership in the church in the early 2000s, and about 80% of Utah state lawmakers identifying as LDS.
Philanthropies, formerly LDS Philanthropies, is a department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is responsible for facilitating donations to humanitarian and educational initiatives. The department works under the direction of the church's Presiding Bishop. The most widely known educational projects are the operation of church-owned schools, such as Brigham Young University (BYU). Humanitarian funds are given to Latter-day Saint Charities which sponsors and organizes relief efforts. In 2019, the church reported over 3,000 community-based projects with an excess of 2,000 partners, in locations around the world. A 2020 statistic reported a total of $2.3 billion that had been donated over Philanthropies' existence.
