Quick Facts
Biography
Michael Kent Young (born November 4, 1949) has been the 25th and current president of Texas A&M University since May 1, 2015. He previously served as president of the University of Washington from 2011 to 2015, as president of the University of Utah from 2004 to 2011 and as dean of George Washington University Law School from 1998 to 2004.
Biography
Young received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1973 and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1976, after which he clerked for Supreme Court Associate Justice William Rehnquist.
His previous academic postings include Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law and Legal Institutions and Director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies at Columbia University and Dean and Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University School of Law. He held several posts in the administration of President George H.W. Bush and served as chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom during 2003 and 2004.
He was president of the University of Utah from August 2004 to May 2011.
He served as president of the New York Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 to 1989. He married fellow BYU alumna Suzan Stewart and they are the parents of three children. They divorced in 2010.
On June 3, 2011, he married Marti Denkers (Young). Young's relationship with Denkers was the subject of some controversy: Denkers was a student at the University of Utah during the time Young presided over it, and she was formerly married to Steve Denkers, a member of the wealthy Eccles family that has given hundreds of millions of dollars to the University of Utah over the years.
On February 3, 2015, it was announced that Young would become president of Texas A&M University. On May 1, 2015 he took over as president of the fourth-largest university in the United States and the largest university in Texas.
Curriculum Vitae
Michael K. Young - President and Professor of Law, University of Washington
Honours
Royal House of Portugal: Knight of the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing (2007)
