About the Student Association
What We Do
The exchange and analysis of ideas is central to our mission. We've set up avenues of online discussion through Twitter, Facebook, and Discord and have plans for more structured opportunities for dialogue by way of biweekly "book club" meetings. During these meetings, we will evaluate and discuss articles, book chapters, and other media on various topics related to Mormonism, including theology, history, social justice, apologetics, culture, environmentalism, and more.
Additional opportunities for learning and investigation will present themselves in the form of speaker/Q&A events involving a variety of presenters, some of whom will be members of the Student Association who are producing important work within Mormon Studies.
Other activities we hope to do in the future involve meetups at art exhibits, historical sights, or rare bookstores, events dedicated to sharing student writing, poetry, visual art, or stories, and service projects.
In addition to these free events, students can choose to pay dues in order to obtain access to the Sunstone Magazine in its new hybrid format AND free or reduced admission to all Sunstone conferences and symposia. Paid membership details coming soon.
Mission Statement
We feel that this generation of young people across the Mormon spectrum is uniquely attuned to the mission of the Sunstone Education Foundation, which is to "sponsor open forums of Mormon thought and experience" under the guiding dogma that there is "more than one way to Mormon."
The Student Association of Sunstone exists to facilitate the crucial dialogue surrounding free Mormon expression and assist students in the challenges they face in their various faith persuasions by providing a source of community within which students can learn and grow. This association seeks to unite intellectually-curious individuals with the roots of their faith and give them opportunities to meaningfully explore their faith tradition.
Since the inception of the Sunstone Magazine, the Sunstone Education Foundation has used its platforms to amplify voices of people with various views on Mormonism, academic and professional disciplines, and personal backgrounds. These platforms have consistently been utilized for the advancement of ideas pertaining to anti-racism, women's liberation, LGBTQ equality, and ideological and religious pluralism, to which we at the Student Association of Sunstone are deeply committed.
About Sunstone
In 1974, Sunstone was launched by a small group of divinity school students passionate about the expansion of Latter-day Saint thinking. The Sunstone Magazine serves as a platform for Mormon thinkers to express ideas through personal essays, academic writing, poetry, visual art, and short fiction, publishing quarterly from 1975 until our switch to a digital format in 2018.
In addition, the annual Summer Symposium has for decades served as one of Mormonism's most important stages for the presentation and debate of ideas, research, and theological work. Frequent presenters have included D. Michael Quinn, Kathleen Flake, Margaret Toscano, Eugene England, Peggy Fletcher Stack, and many more figures essential to the study and discussion of Mormonism.
Sunstone continues to support the work of people involved in various disciplines as they connect to Mormonism, including history, theological studies, sociology, women's studies, comparative religious studies, anti-racism, media studies, poetry and literature, queer studies, psychology, apologetics, folk studies, and visual art. Our Student Association seeks to be a place for discussion and development of these important and intersecting areas.
Student Representative
Evan Jones
Evan is a senior at UVU working towards a degree in Religious Studies and Psychology with a minor in Philosophy. He is currently writing a thesis about Mormon apologetics and Generation Z and preparing for graduate school.
More questions? Email us at SAS@Sunstone.org
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