Along with a new building, the LDS Institute of Religion will get new leadership this summer.
Officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have reassigned Institute Director Paul Browning to the church’s curriculum department, where he will help produce educational workbooks and manuals.
Browning will make the transition in June, about the same time the institute will open the east wing of its new 118,000 sq. foot building.
“I feel badly that Paul will not be here to see the fruits of his labor,” said Larry Tippetts, area director of church education and Browning’s replacement.
Browning has worked at the institute for the past 10 years, seven of those as the director, and through it all he has pushed church leadership to construct a new institute building to contain the burgeoning student body.
When Browning first became institute director, 2,800 U students enrolled in institute classes; for the past few years that number has climbed higher than 5,000.
Browning attributes the growth to the increased attention on the program brought on by the church’s First Presidency and the improved promotional campaign the institute has established on the U campus.
When he started, the institute served 20 wards of about 250 students each, now it serves more than 45 student wards.
This growth lead Browning to encourage church leaders to build the new structure, which at its capacity could hold 10,000 students.
“I have been very attached to this project and worked really hard to see its fruition,” Browning said. “I am happy enough to see it happen. The program is going to move forward no matter who is the director.”
Tippetts, who is currently Browning’s supervisor, will become institute director at the beginning of July.
“I will enjoy the fact that I will be teaching now,” Tippetts said. “The challenge will be to fill the new building. I want to justify the cost of it.”
Browning expects enrollment in institute classes to jump by 1,000 students next year due to excitement surrounding the new center and the momentum the institute has gathered in recent years.
“Among LDS students, there is increasingly a feeling that the institute is a hub of activity,” he said.
But Browning, the man who’s pushed for the new building for years, won’t be a part of that activity.
“We are really going to miss him and we feel bad that we are losing him,” said Jake Werrett, president of the Latter-day Saints Student Association.
Werrett expects that Browning will have difficulty leaving his post.
“I think it will be a big struggle for him. He has taught for years, now he will sit at a desk in an office and write curriculum all day,” he said. “I think he is sorry to leave, especially at this time. He has so much ownership in the U, it is probably hard for him to leave.”
“I’m a Ute. I always feel that way,” Browning said.