C. Shane Reese
C. Shane Reese was appointed Brigham Young University’s 14th president on March 21, 2023, and will take office on May 1. President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles officially installed President Christopher Shane Reese as the 14th president of Brigham Young University on Tuesday, September 19. The ceremony was also attended by Kevin J Worthen, BYU’s outgoing president, as well past presidents Elder Merril J. Bateman and Elder Cecil O. Samuelson. Elder Clark G. Gilbert, commissioner of the Church Educational System, conducted the inauguration.[1] Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at the ceremony.
Reese had been serving as academic vice president since June 2019. “He directed the BYU Committee on Race, Equity and Belonging, which found that the university needed to root out individual and systemic racism. The committee offered 26 recommendations, and Reese and others have begun to implement them.”[2]
He previously served as dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017 to 2019 and joined the BYU statistics faculty in 2001.
Reese was born in Logan, Utah, on February 9, 1971. He was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served as a Latter-day Saint missionary in the Taiwan Taipei Mission from 1990 to 1992.
Reese holds a doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M University. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics from BYU. He worked in the Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory and used statistical models to predict the safety of aging nuclear weapons.
His research has focused on sports analytics, Bayesian hierarchical models and optimal experimental design. He is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Laboratory. He has used his work in solving problems in professional sports franchises, national security and business.[3]
Reese turned down a front office position with the Philadelphia Eagles to remain at BYU. He said that the offer came in about 2006, when the then-Eagles coach — and now two-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs coach — Andy Reid called him. “The first time Reid called him, Reese didn’t believe it was Reid and hung up on him, Reese said in an interview.”[4]
He also has mapped solar storms and whale mating grounds, published a study about NASCAR, and provided statistical analysis for the U.S. Olympic volleyball team.[5]
Reese is married to Wendy Wood Reese and they are the parents of three children.
