Holy Places: Past, Present and Future
Elder Joe J. Christensen
Education Conference ·
June 05, 2010
Elder Joe J. Christensen was the president of Ricks College from 1985 to 1989 when he was called as a General Authority. He served in the Presidency of the Seventy for more than six years. He was named a General Authority Emeritus in 1999. He then served as president of the San Diego California Temple from 1999 to 2002. Prior to his call to Ricks College, Elder Christensen served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He also was associate commissioner of the Church Educational System from 1970 to 1985, interrupted by a four-year term as president of the missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Elder Christensen received a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. from Washington State University. He and his wife, Barbara, have six children, twenty-eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.