BYU NewsNet - BYUSA’s Neal Cox leading through service

As a freshman voting in his first student election at Snow College in Ephraim, Neal Cox, of Provo, was surprised to find his own name on the ballot.

“To this day, I don’t know who took the initiative to have the petition signed and do all the work that needed to be done, but it wasn’t me,” said Cox, BYU’s director of student leadership. “I thought, ‘Well, should I vote for myself? Why not?’ thinking it was a fat chance I’d go anywhere.”

Cox, however, went on to be elected Snow College’s student body president, a decision which would shape the rest of his life as he worked with students in education and leadership, helping them grow and reach their potential through service.

“Everywhere I’ve gone ... I’ve always looked for opportunities, and found them, to work with student leadership programs,” Cox said. “That’s something I believe is a great compliment to education; I believe it’s a great teaching environment, too.”

Born and raised in Manti, Cox attended Snow College for two years before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan. He completed his undergraduate degree at Utah State University and began a teaching career that took him to Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and western Samoa. He earned his master’s and Ed.D. degrees at BYU before returning to Snow College, where he became the dean of students and had the opportunity to work with student leadership again.

“I love to see people develop and thrive,” Cox said. Every person has God-given gifts, which can allow them to have a great positive influence in the world, he said, but someone has to help them discover and develop those gifts.

“That’s what education’s all about,” he said. “It’s not like trying to be better than somebody else, it’s trying to lift everybody.” Rather than receive perks and be elevated from other people, leaders should serve, he said.

“When you give of yourself to others, you truly find your life,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that you have some elevated title, but it’s peace of knowing that your life is worth something.”

In 1995 Cox was called to be an LDS mission president in Chicago, where he watched and helped both investigators and missionaries reach their potential.

“Maybe sometimes what we perceive to be a deficit is really an asset to us,” he said. “We just have to live long enough to see it that way.”

After his mission, Cox became the associate vice president and dean of students at Southern Utah University. He came to BYU as the director of student leadership in 2007, working extensively with BYUSA.

Adam Ruri, the 2008-2009 president of BYUSA, worked closely with Cox since the director’s arrival.

“His influence continues and will continue to affect people like me for the rest of my life, and that’s the beauty of Brother Cox’s abilities,” Ruri said. “He really has a way of empowering me and he’s helped me to see a lot of things that I need to do to improve.”

Student leadership operations coordinator and Cox’s assistant, Angela Blomquist, said his outgoing attitude has brought more involvement to BYUSA since he arrived.

“If Neal had his way, he would be out shaking everyone’s hands in the Wilk and on campus,” she said. “I think it really resonates well with the students.”

Cox said the Savior’s statement that “whoso loseth his life for my sake shall find it” has proven true both in the experiences of students and his own life. “We ought to be serving others,” he said. “Life is good, but it’s better when you have a chance to serve.”