Presenter Profiles

Elder Merrill J. Bateman is married to Marilyn Scholes Bateman. They are the parents of seven children and have 32 grandchildren. He received a BS in economics at the University of Utah in 1960 and a PhD in the same subject at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. His current Church assignment is president of the Provo Utah Temple. He has previously served in the presidency of the Seventy, and as president of Brigham Young University, Presiding Bishop, regional representative, and stake president. His publications include Learning in the Light of Truth, Deseret Book, 2005; “A Season for Angels,” Ensign, December 2007; and “Becoming a Disciple of Christ,” Ensign, April 2006.

Jason S. Carroll is an associate professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Dr. Carroll is a nationally recognized scholar in the areas of marriage readiness among young adults and modern threats to marriage (such as materialism, pornography, delayed age at marriage, and premarital sexuality). Dr. Carroll is the lead instructor of the popular Preparation for Marriage (“Marriage Prep”) course at BYU. He and his wife, Stefani, have been married for 15 years, and they are the blessed parents of five children.

Sarah M. Coyne is an assistant professor of human development in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Before accepting the post, she worked for three years as a psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England. Dr. Coyne earned a BSc in psychology (minor, family human development) from Utah State University in 2001. She then completed a PhD in psychology from the University of Central Lancashire in early 2004. At that time, Dr. Coyne was both the youngest person to receive a PhD in psychology from this university and had the quickest completion time on record. Her research interests primarily involve how the media influence aggressive behavior. Dr. Coyne currently lives in Elk Ridge, Utah, with her husband Paul (a redheaded Irishman!) and her children Nathan, three and Hannah, one month. In her ward she currently teaches the CTR#8 Primary class.

Randal D. Day is a professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. He is also the associate director of the School of Family Life and the director of the Family Studies Center. His research interests include family processes, father involvement, parent-child interaction, and father re-entry from prison. Dr. Day is a fellow of the National Council on Relations and has served as a section chair and board member for that organization. He is the principal investigator for the Flourishing Families Project,which is currently interviewing over 400 families in Seattle (parents and children) about their experiences within inner-family life and the transition into young adulthood. Dr. Day has been married for 38 years to Larri-Lea Kissell. They have five children and six grandchildren.

Craig L. Israelsen PhD is an associate professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he teaches personal and family finance. He holds a PhD in family resource management from BYU; he received a BS degree in agribusiness and an MS degree in agricultural economics from Utah State University. Before teaching at BYU, Dr. Isrealsen was on the faculty of the University of Missouri–Columbia for 14 years, where he taught personal and family finance in the Personal Financial Planning Department. Primary among his research interests is the analysis of investment products, particularly mutual funds. He writes monthly for Financial Planning magazine. He is married to Tamara Trimble, and they have seven children. His hobbies include swimming, biking, running, and woodworking.

Daniel K Judd was born and reared in Kanab, Utah. In addition to participating in sports in high school and working on the family ranch in his youth, Brother Judd also worked as a river guide on the Colorado River. After serving as a full-time missionary in the California San Diego Mission, he married Kaye Seegmiller from St. George, Utah. Brother and Sister Judd are the parents of four children and grandparents of two. Brother Judd received his undergraduate degree from Southern Utah University in 1980. He also obtained a master’s degree in family science and a doctorate in counseling psychology from Brigham Young University. He has been a seminary and institute instructor in Utah, Arizona, and Michigan, and was a member of the Family Science faculty at BYU–Idaho. Brother Judd is currently a professor of ancient scripture at BYU, where he has also served as department chair. He has written several books and many articles in the fields of religion, marriage and family relationships, and psychology. Brother Judd has served as a Webelos leader, Sunday School teacher, ward mission leader, Young Men president, bishop, and stake president; he is currently serving as first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency of the Church.

Richard B. Miller is the director of the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Formerly, he taught at Kansas State University for 11 years, where he was the director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program. He currently works parttime at LDS Family Services, where he specializes in treating marital problems. His research focuses on marital relationships over the life course. Dr. Miller has published articles in numerous journals, including Journal of Marriage and the Family, Family Relations, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, and International Journal of Aging and Human Development. He and his wife, Mary, have been married for 20 years, and they have six children, including two who were recently adopted. He was recently released as a bishop in a BYU married student ward.

Brent D. Slife is currently a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, where he chairs the doctoral program in theoretical and philosophical psychology and is a member of the doctoral program in clinical psychology. Recently honored with the Eliza R. Snow and Karl G. Maeser awards for outstanding scholarship, he was also distinguished as Teacher of the Year by the university and Most Outstanding Professor by the Psychology Honorary, Psi Chi. As a fellow of several professional organizations, he has served as the President of the Society of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology and on the editorial boards of six journals. He has authored over 120 articles and books. Dr. Slife also continues his psychotherapy practice of over 25 years, where he specializes in marital and family therapies. He has been married to Karen for 31 years and has three sons, all of whom getting married within the year. Please check his Web site, www.brentdslife.com, for downloadable articles and links to his books.

Bryan L. Sudweeks is an associate professor of business management at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School, where he teaches classes related to personal finance and investments. He is the lead behind the Marriott School of Management’s “Personal Finance” Web site (http://personalfinance.byu.edu), a free resource which can help students and the community become more financially self-reliant. He is the advisor to the Investment Banking Club, teaches the investment banking internship and personal finance classes to the undergraduate and graduate business students, and teaches the asset management class, where undergraduate students manage $750,000 in real assets. Before coming to BYU, Dr. Sudweeks spent 13 years in the investment banking and asset management industry. He received his PhD in business administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and his MBA and Bachelor’s degree in Mandarin Chinese from BYU. He is a chartered financial analyst. He is married to Anne Dewey of Alton, Illinois, and they are the parents of seven children, all boys except for six.

Laura M. Padilla Walker is an assistant professor of human development in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. She received her PhD from the University of Nebraska in 2005, and her primary research interests center around the parent-child relationship during adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 18–25) and how this relationship helps to promote positive outcomes (prosocial behaviors, positive values, moral development) in children. Recent publications focus on parent-child relationships and prosocial behaviors during emerging adulthood, parents’ transmission of values to their adolescent children, and strategies parents use to combat messages of conflicting values received from peers and the media. Her husband, Chris, is an attorney for the Utah Attorney General’s office, and they have two children, Ryan, six, and Maggie, three. Dr. Walker currently teaches the 16-year-old Sunday School class in her ward.