Difference between revisions of "Hal R. Boyd"

Revision as of 18:29, 25 May 2024

Hal Boyd is an essayist and editor with a background in law. In April 2024, Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese announced that Boyd would fill the newly created position of president’s chief of staff.[1]

“Hal brings tremendous gifts and talents to BYU,” President Reese said. “He has excellent communication skills and tremendous leadership and organizational mastery. This unique set of gifts, coupled with his understanding and commitment to our shared mission and ‘Becoming BYU,’ will be such a blessing to our campus, our leadership and our students and employees.”[2]

Previous to his appointment, he was the Opinion Editor of the Deseret News National and was an enterprise reporter for the Deseret News. Boyd will maintain his position as Executive Editor of Deseret Magazine.[3]

He has also served as an associate professor of Family Law and Policy in Brigham Young University’s School of Family Life and Director of Family Public Scholarship.

He is a fellow of BYU's Wheatley Institute—a think tank focused on fortifying family, religion, and constitutional government—a position he has held since 2018.[4]

Boyd also was a special assistant to the president at Eastern Kentucky University.

Boyd graduated from Yale Law School in 2016 and focused his studies and research on legal and governance issues involving higher education.[5] He earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU in philosophy. He also attended the University of Cambridge’s 2008 Pembroke-King’s Programme.

His essays have been published by The Atlantic, Newsweek, Religion & Politics, and First Things. He’s been a guest of NPR and CNN, and his commentary has been cited in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post. His books include Psalms of Nauvoo: Early Mormon Poetry (with Susan Easton Black, Are Christians Mormon? (with David L. Paulsen), and College for the Commonwealth: A Case for Higher Education in American Democracy (with Michael T. Benson.[6]