The CliffNotes of Benson's formative years: Served an LDS Church mission to Italy; attended BYU; sold his car to finance a trip to study in Jerusalem for two semesters; interned for Sen. Orrin Hatch in Washington, D.C.; took a political science degree at BYU; worked full time for Hatch as a junior staff member in Washington; entered Oxford at 27, and earned a doctorate in modern Middle Eastern history.

Along the way he developed a passion for Israel and President Harry S. Truman. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Truman to support his contention that the president's major role in the creation of Israel was not politically motivated but was based on altruism and religious beliefs.

Benson returned to Israel on a fellowship for further research and turned his dissertation into a book — "Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel." It made him a sought-after expert on Israel, a country he has visited 16 times.

"While writing that book, I would get the feeling that someone was looking over my shoulder," he says. "I felt an otherworldly presence sometimes when I was writing. My book was the first to take on the premise that Truman did what he did with Israel for political reasons. He did it because it was the moral and right and compassionate thing to do."

After returning to the United States, Benson applied for teaching positions and found none. He roofed houses and sold suits at Nordstrom's for several months before landing a position as a fund-raiser at the University of Utah and later as a special assistant to U. President Bernie Machen and then secretary to the university board of trustees.

"After a few a years I decided I loved campus life and being around bright people and ideas and young people who are in the formative period of their lives," he says. "Acquiring knowledge seemed like a noble, worthy cause."

In 2001, at 36, he was named president of Snow College, making him the youngest college or university president ever in Utah's higher education system.

Benson, who already has served as the president of two schools, authored a book and graduated from BYU and Oxford, seems bound for other things, but if he's thinking that far ahead he's not letting on.

"I believe if you're given a task and you work hard, things will take care of themselves," he says. "If I hadn't produced at Snow, I wouldn't have been considered at SUU. I want to build on what's been done at SUU."

It hasn't all been mortar boards and building projects for Benson. The events of the past few months have marked a comeback from the lowest point in his life.

His marriage to the granddaughter of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley united two of the greatest names in the church. The 10-year marriage, which produced two children, ended two years ago. That was devastating, Benson says.