1989
Steven D. Bennion New Ricks President
July 1989


“Steven D. Bennion New Ricks President,” Ensign, July 1989, 79

Steven D. Bennion New Ricks President

Steven D. Bennion, president of state-owned Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, has been named the thirteenth president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.

He succeeds Elder Joe J. Christensen, sustained April 1 as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

Brother Bennion, forty-seven, has served as president of Snow College since 1982. He will leave that position on July 1.

“It will be a challenge to build on the great work that has been done before” by the previous presidents, says Brother Bennion, but it is a challenge he welcomes.

He says the Ricks assignment appeals to him because of the Church school’s personalized learning environment, its range of extracurricular activities, and the religious experiences and training it offers students. “I’m excited about the great people there, the worldwide student body, and the learning environment that provides balanced development,” he says.

A junior college with approximately 7,500 students, Ricks is the largest privately owned two-year college in the United States.

Previous to his appointment at Snow College, Brother Bennion worked from 1967 to 1979 in educational and budget planning for the University of Wisconsin System of Higher Education. Then, from 1979 to 1981, he served as manager of program development and training in the Church’s Welfare Services Department.

At the time of his appointment as president of Snow College, he was associate commissioner for planning in the Utah System of Higher Education.

The new Ricks president received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah, his master of public administration degree from Cornell University, and his doctor of philosophy degree in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin. He was a Fulbright Scholar to the Pacific Islands in the summer of 1987.

As a young man, he served a mission in Scotland. He has since served as a counselor in two stake presidencies, a member of three stake high councils, and a bishop.

Brother Bennion married Marjorie Hopkins in 1963; they are the parents of four sons (one deceased), and a daughter. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lowell L. Bennion of Salt Lake City.