J. Matthew Shumway grew up in Blanding, Utah, as the fourth child of Conney E. and Helen N. Shumway. After earning his BS and MA degrees from Brigham Young University, he received his PhD in geography in 1991 from Indiana University. He has been a member of the faculty at BYU since that time.
He is married to Ann Shumway, and they have six children and one grandchild.
