Joseph was born on August 23 1932 in Delta, Utah. After graduating from Delta High School in 1950, he served an LDS mission to Argentina. Bishop married Carolyn Callister on June 28, 1956, and they are the parents of five sons. He attended Brigham Young University where he received a B.A. in Spanish in 1955 and an M.A. in Spanish in 1958. Bishop received a Ph.D. in university administration from Claremont Graduate School in Hayward, California in 1958. Subsequently he was chairman of the Spanish department at Imperial Valley College, 1960-1961; President of the Haitian-American Institute, 1961-1962; Academic Dean, Mt. San Jacinto College; 1962-1966; Vice President, Praire State College, 1966-1968; and executive director of GT-70, an educational consortia made up of 30 colleges throughout the nation, 1968-1972. Bishop was appointed by the Utah State Board of Higher Education as President of Weber State College on May 23, 1972, and took office on July 4 of that same year upon the retirement of William P. Miller. During his career in higher education, Bishop has authored a number of articles in professional publications. He is also the author of The Making of a Missionary. In December 1977, Bishop was called by the LDS Church to serve as President of the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission. After his return in 1981 he was selected to serve as President of the Missionary Training Center in Provo. Since his release from that assignment in 1986, Bishop has served as Executive Director of BYU-Public School Partnership where he coordinates activities of and educational reform consortium involving five school districts and BYU’s College of Education. Bishop who currently lives in Salt Lake City, was the recipient of an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Weber State College when he retired as president.