Candidate Spotlight

Don Jarvis

Don Jarvis is an experienced educator, administrator, and community activist.  

He is active in community and church.  A member and a director of the Provo Rotary Club, he also volunteers as a supervisor for Provo School District’s adult English as a second language program.  His family has supported the Provo Food & Shelter Coalition for over twenty years.  He has served three missions for his church, one as mission president, and has filled many church assignments, from bishop to home teacher.

He participates in local politics.  This year, together with former Utah Republican Senator Karl Snow, Don headed Utah County signature gathering for the non-partisan ethics reform initiative.  In 2009 he was executive director of the Utah County Democratic Party, in 2008 he ran for the legislature, and in 2007 was chair of the Research Committee for the County Party.  In the 1970s, he served as Wasatch Neighborhood Chair.

Jarvis taught at Brigham Young University from 1970 to 2004, where he also founded the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, established the Foreign Language Residence, directed General Education, and chaired the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages.  He published widely on language teaching and faculty development, headed two national organizations for Slavic professors and consulted for government agencies and universities, including West Point Military Academy and Utah Valley University. Early in his career he taught high school in Beaver and in Salt Lake City.

Don and his wife Janelle have deep roots in Provo.  All four of his grandparents taught at Brigham Young Academy.  Don & Janelle have lived here for forty years, where they raised six children. They have twenty-three grandchildren, twelve of whom live in Provo.