Justin Collings was appointed as the academic vice president June 21, 2023. He is responsible for the academic enterprise of the university. The academic vice president works collaboratively with the BYU President, other vice presidents, associate academic vice presidents and campus deans and directors to achieve the Mission and Aims of a BYU education.
Collings joined the J. Reuben Clark Law School faculty in 2013 following a clerkship for Judge Guido Calabresi with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the university administration he served as associate dean for faculty and curriculum, as well as for research and academic affairs at BYU’s law school. Collings served as an associate academic vice president for faculty development before being appointed academic vice president in June 2023. He is a member of the advisory group and a former fellow of the BYU Wheatley Institute, whose mission is to fortify society’s core institutions of family, religion, and constitutional government.
Collings double-majored in English and Italian as an undergraduate student at BYU. He earned a doctoral degree in history from Yale University, as well as a juris doctorate from Yale Law School.
Along with his teaching and research on constitutional law and constitutional history, Collings has championed religious freedom and the principles of the U.S. Constitution. He is the author of many articles and book chapters on constitutional topics, as well as two books: Democracy's Guardians: A History of the German Federal Constitutional Court, 1951-2001 (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Scales of Memory: Constitutional Justice and Historical Evil (Oxford University Press, 2021).