J. B. Haws

J. B. Haws is the Executive Director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and a professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU. He is the author of The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception (Oxford, 2013) and holds a PhD in American History from the University of Utah. His research centers on the place of Mormonism in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America, including public perceptions of Latter-day Saints, trends in contemporary Mormon historical scholarship, and interfaith engagement. He previously coordinated BYU’s Office of Religious Outreach (2016–2018) and, before joining the BYU faculty, taught seminary in Salt Lake and Weber Counties. A native of what pioneer-era Utahns called “Muskrat Springs” (now Hooper), he likes to say his love of history was basically guaranteed.

He is married to Laura Favero—whom he jokingly cites as proof that miracles have not ceased—and they are the parents of three boys and a daughter. The family loves life in Provo and can often be found cheering (with occasionally questionable restraint) for the Cougars.

He served a Spanish-speaking mission in Raleigh, North Carolina, which means he now speaks Spanish with a slight Southern accent and English with a classic Hooper, Utah accent.