Thomas G. Alexander
Thomas G. Alexander served as BYU faculty from 1964 to 2004, and he taught at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Southern Illinos University in Carbondale, the University of california at Berkerley, the University of Utah, and Utah State University. He is an author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of twenty-six books and monographs and one hundred fifty articles. He specializes in Utah History, Western History, Environmental History, and Mormon History.
He was born in Logan, Utah, on August 8, 1935, and attended the public schools of Ogden, Utah. He earned an associate of science degree from Weber State University in 1955, bachelors and masters degrees at Utah State University in 1960 and 1961, and a Ph.D. in American History at the University of California at Berkeley in 1965.
Tom has been awarded a number of prizes and honors. These include the David and Beatrice Evans Biography Award for Things in Heaven and Earth, the Mormon History Association Best Book Award (twice) for Mormonism in Transition and Things in Heaven and Earth, the Mormon History Association Best Article Award (thrice), the Utah State Historical Society Best Article Award (twice), the Daughters of the American Revolution History Medal Award, the Award of Merit of the American Association for State and Local History, and the Western History Association Award of Merit and Honorary Life Membership.
He is a fellow of the Utah State Historical Society and the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. He has served as president of Phi Alpha Theta, the American Historical Association—Pacific Coast Branch, the Mormon History Association, the Utah Valley Historical Society, and the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. He is president-elect of the national organization of the Sons of Utah Pioneers. He has served as chair of the Utah Humanitites Council, the Utah State Historical Society, and the provo City Landmarks Commission. He served as parliamentarian of the Western History Association and has served as a member of the WHA council. He has served on committees for the Organization of American Historians and the American Society for Environment History.
He and his wife, Marilyn John Alexander, live in provo. He is active in community and church service. He has served as a neighborhood chairman, as a bishop, in three bishoprics, as a High Priests group leader, and in a number of other positions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife served in mission in Berlin, Germany, in 2004 and 2005 and in the Family and Church History Mission in Salt Lake city, Utah, in 2005. He currently serves as president of the Sunday School in his congregation. He and his wife have five grandchildren and six grand children.