Kevin J Worthen succeeded Cecil O. Samuelson as the president of BYU on 1  May 2014. President Worthen was officially inaugurated as the thirteenth president of BYU on 9 September 2014. President Worthen is a native of Carbon County, Utah. He served a mission to Monterrey, Mexico. President Worthen earned an associate's degree from the College of Eastern Utah (where he served as co-captain of the varsity basketball team), and a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from BYU. Following graduation, he clerked for Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and for Associate Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He practiced law in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1984 to 1987. In 1987, he returned to BYU as a member of the law school faculty and served as dean of the law school from 2004 to 2008. While working for BYU, Elder Worthen served as faculty athletic representative to the NCAA for four years and as chair of the University Athletic Advisory Council from 1992 to 2000. He has also been the Hugh W. Colton professor at BYU. In June 2008, Elder Worthen was appointed Advancement Vice President at BYU, with responsibility for university relations, communications, athletics, and philanthropies. In April 2010, he became an area seventy in the LDS Church.