Elizabeth (Betsy) Bennion

Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University 

Betsy Bennion joined ICLRS in 2025 to help oversee efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Previously, she served as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department in Mexico, Pakistan, Washington, D.C., and at NATO Headquarters in Belgium.  Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she had a legal career.  She worked on a prosecution team at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, clerked on both the Utah Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, taught at BYU Law School, and practiced at several large law firms.  She also performed research for Human Rights Watch in San Francisco and provided appellate expertise for the Federal Public Defender Office in Salt Lake City.  She holds degrees from BYU, Stanford, the University of Utah, and UCLA Law School.  She grew up in Palo Alto, California, and Geneva, Switzerland.  Besides her tours abroad with the U.S. State Department listed above, she has also lived in Brazil, England, Israel, and the Netherlands.