When Lorris Betz, who worked with Machen at Michigan, came to interview for the job as Utah's senior vice president (a post he now holds), he was grilled by his interviewers about Machen himself:

"Is this guy for real?"

"What does he mean when he says . . . ?"

"Can you give me some advice on . . ."

"He is so open and straightforward and honest, and people aren't familiar with that style," says Betz.

There has been just one thing that caught Machen unprepared since coming to Utah — the local culture.

His introduction to the influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came at his first news conference when he was introduced as the school's 13th president. The second question he fielded was, "Are you LDS?"

Machen, who is Methodist, was baffled. He wondered if the reporter was asking if he were learning disabled. The question finally had to be rephrased: "Are you a Mormon?"

"Never in my life had I been asked about my religious affiliation," he says.

Machen is only the second non-LDS president at Utah (along with predecessor Art Smith), but he has done much to warm chilly relations with the state's predominant church.

"For whatever reason, the LDS Church people have opened up to me in a way that I've felt totally comfortable with," he says.

It helps that Benson, his right-hand man, is grandson of former church president Ezra Taft Benson and son-in-law to church president Gordon B. Hinckley.

"President Hinckley sends messages through Mike all the time," says Machen.

The spokesman

Machen raised a few eyebrows on campus when he invited President Hinckley to be his first commencement speaker. Some school officials protested that this was improper, but Machen was unmoved.

President Hinckley, he says, "had an honorary degree from Utah, and he took a degree in English here, and he had never been invited. People on campus said, 'No, you can't invite him; the faculty would perceive it as cozying up to the church.'

"I said, 'Wait a minute. I'm a Methodist from Michigan who has a desire to hear more from the prophet of the LDS Church, a highly respected international figure who has a lot to say about life and who is one of our most famous alums. He can offer wisdom to graduates.' I wanted him.

"Well, the Huntsman Center was packed, and he got a standing ovation. It was one of the best commencement addresses I ever heard. That probably got me off on the right foot (with the church)."