LOGAN – Logan City’s municipal council is losing one of its members now that Tom Jensen has agreed to move to Jordan to take a position at the American University of Madaba.
Jensen told his colleagues on the council Tuesday night that he is also retiring from his architectural firm Architectural Nexus because he has been asked to lead the development of a new architectural program that is a professional arrangement with the Catholic Church.
“This was neither sought nor anticipated,” Jensen told the council in a prepared statement. “I got a call out of the blue from a humanitarian missionary of the LDS Charities in Jordan recruiting us on behalf of the American University.
“It is not a mission but a professional engagement directly with the Catholic Church. It’s purpose is to bring greater understanding and hope.”
Jensen said his wife Ronna will teach English and assist with translations.
“We are a Mormon couple, teaching in a Catholic University, in a Muslim nation overlooking the Palestinian west bank of Israel,” Jensen continued.
The Jensens have committed to be there one year with the possibility of an extension. The Jensens will leave for Jordan in early September. The council will need to find someone to replace Jensen to finish the final two-and-a-half years remaining on his term of office.