Faculty Perspectives and Experiences at the Jerusalem Center

Authors

Gaye Strathearn
Andrew C. Skinner
S. Kent Brown
Ed Stratford
Kent P. Jackson

Keywords

BYU Studies, faculty, Jerusalem Center

Abstract

Strathearn: In 1985, my friend and I decided to backpack around the world. I said that if we were doing that, the first thing I wanted to do was get to the Holy Land. We were on a dime traveling, and we just had a Bible in one hand and a Let’s Go Europe in the other. That visit to the Holy Land started a fire within me, a love of that land. I was home about a year and a half when Elder James E. Faust spoke at our stake conference in Australia. He began by noting that “the Jerusalem Center is opening soon.” After conference, I asked Elder Faust, “Really, what do I need to do?” He told me to write to Robert Taylor. Two months later, I was at the Jerusalem Center as a student in the fall 1987 program. I later returned as a faculty member from August 2014 to August 2015.

Skinner: I first taught at the Jerusalem Center in the 1990 fall program. Janet and I took our six children to Jerusalem as the Gulf War was looming large. I taught in the 1991 spring and summer programs following the end of the Gulf War, then again in 1995–96 when we had five children with us, in 2008–09 when two children were with us, and in 2016. I was the associate director for academics in fall semester 2011 and again in 2018–19. On the latter two occasions, Janet assisted with the field trip program logistics.

Recommended Citation

Strathearn, Gaye; Skinner, Andrew C.; Brown, S. Kent; Stratford, Ed; and Jackson, Kent P. (2020) "Faculty Perspectives and Experiences at the Jerusalem Center," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 59: Iss. 4, Article 10.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol59/iss4/10