As a curious little girl, Kathleen Flake says she had "more fun thinking about (Mormonism) than anything else."
Years and one career later, Flake found a way to make a living thinking about Mormonism, and last week the well-regarded scholar of the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became the first occupant of the Richard L. Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies in the University of Virginia's Department of Religious Studies.
The chair at Virginia is only the third of its kind in the United States.