Like many undergraduates at BYU–Idaho, Jeff Jenkins often contemplated the specifics of his future career. “I liked what I was studying but felt I was missing something,” he says.
One spring day he found himself gazing across campus from its highest point—the Gordon B. Hinckley Building. “I had the thought, I should be a professor,” Jenkins recalls. “It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
Jenkins transferred to BYU and completed his master of information systems management; he later went on to earn his PhD in management information systems at University of Arizona. “Teaching is a wonderful experience,” says Jenkins, who began working at BYU Marriott in 2014. “I love watching my students—even after they graduate—formulate and pursue ideas and accomplish great things. They are excited to learn. They make the topics fun.”
Likewise, Jenkins does his part in making classes fun. Consider, for example, his Information Systems 560: Information Security Management course. For the final exam each semester, Jenkins conjures up an escape-room experience in which students put their cybersecurity skills to use in various locations on campus. “They’re drawing upon everything they learned that semester and saving the world from a hypothetical scenario,” he explains.
Jenkins deeply involves his students in research; this practice expands their opportunities and has led to a successful company. “My research assistants were key in the development of techniques for detecting fraud,” he says. BYU patented the team’s behavioral analytics research and grew it into neuroID, a company that Experian purchased in August 2024. “Some students were my research assistants for a few years, then they went to work for neuroID. It’s neat seeing them not only help from the academic standpoint but also develop their careers in something rooted in our research,” Jenkins says.
Preparing students for the business world is also at the heart of Jenkins’s class Information Systems 581: Managing a Software Startup. “Every year I have students who pursue startups after they finish the course,” he says. “I regularly mentor them and enjoy watching their companies grow.”
As Jenkins draws upon his professional experiences to make his lessons relevant, he also embraces the “beautiful opportunity” BYU provides for blending the intellectual with the spiritual. “I recently taught at another university in a different country. It felt like something was missing when we couldn’t begin with a prayer or we couldn’t talk about life as it pertains to spiritual things,” he says.
Whether designing an escape room or mentoring student businesses, Jenkins finds that bringing concepts to life is the most significant part of teaching. “I love when the material becomes more than a class. It becomes something they’re enjoying and something they’re going to be using,” he says. “That’s special to me.”
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This article is published on page 23 of BYU Marriott's 2024 Annual Report.