Bio: Mark Alan Wright received his PhD in anthropology (with a subfield of specialization in Mesoamerican archaeology) from the University of California, Riverside in 2011, and his BA and MA in anthropology from UCLA (2003) and UC Riverside (2004). He has conducted fieldwork in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize. He began teaching part-time in the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU in 2007 and has been full-time since 2011. Before BYU, he taught anthropology at Mt. San Jacinto College (2006) as well as early-morning seminary and institute classes in Southern California from 1999 to 2007. He was born and raised in Long Beach, California. He and his beautiful wife, Traci (adjunct professor of history at Utah Valley University), live in Vineyard, Utah.

Courses Taught: Book of Mormon (REL A 121 and 122), Pearl of Great Price (REL A 327), New Testament (REL A 211)

Areas of Expertise: Classic-period Maya rulership, Mesoamerican writing systems

Research Interests: Ancient Mesoamerican ritual and religion, historicity of the Book of Mormon

Languages: Spanish, Modern Yucatec Mayan, ancient Maya hieroglyphs