Elder Jeffrey R. Holland announced in his devotional address on March 21 that Academic Vice President C. Shane Reese will replace Kevin J Worthen as BYU’s 14th president starting May 1.
Brother Reese was appointed as Academic Vice President in June 2019 and served as the dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017-2019.
“I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve as the president of Brigham Young University,” Brother Reese said. “Wendy and I express our deep gratitude for the exemplary service of Kevin and Peggy Worthen. We love the mission of BYU and look forward to passionately pursuing that mission with our students, faculty and staff.”
Brother Reese earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics from BYU and his doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M University. He became a member of BYU’s statistics faculty in 2001.
“We are also so pleased with this new assignment for President Reese,” Elder Holland said. “The Lord has prepared him in profound ways. He has the confidence and trust of the Church Board of Education to lead BYU at this critical time.”
Brother Reese is also a member of the BYU Department of Statistics and the 5th Utahn to be named an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association.
He has conducted research in statistics during his time at BYU and created statistical models to predict the power of solar storms, solve problems for professional sports franchises and more. His work has been utilized by the U.S. Olympic volleyball team and the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
Brother Reese received the BYU Young Scholar Award and the BYU Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award, and was also named the Melvin W. Carter Professor of Statistics during his time at the university.
Before coming to BYU, Brother Reese worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member.
During 1990-1992, he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. Currently, he serves as the first counselor in the Mapleton Utah North Stake.
Brother Reese and his wife, Wendy Wood Reese, have three children.
