Brigham Young University–Hawaii: A Unique Educational Experience
Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii) is a private university located in Laie, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It stands as a testament to the vision of providing a unique educational experience that combines academic rigor with cultural understanding and spiritual growth. Owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), BYU-Hawaii is part of the larger Brigham Young University system.
Historical Overview
The origins of BYU-Hawaii can be traced back to the early presence of the LDS Church in the Hawaiian Islands. Following the Edict of Toleration by Kamehameha III in 1850, the LDS Church established a presence in the islands. By 1919, the church had become prominent enough to construct a temple in Laie.
In 1921, Franklin S. Harris was appointed as BYU's president and was the first in this role to have a doctoral degree. Harris made several significant changes to the school, reorganizing it into a true university, whereas before, its organization had remnants of the academy days.
Two years after the temple's dedication, then-LDS Church apostle David O. McKay expressed the church's intention to build a school in the area. Preliminary plans for the school began in 1951, with ground broken in 1955. Classes commenced in September 1955 as the Church College of Hawaii, aimed at serving the growing LDS population in the Territory of Hawai‘i. The initial class comprised 153 students and 20 faculty members, utilizing old World War II buildings. Reuben D. Law served as the school's first president.
The school's early development saw the construction of dormitories, a cafeteria, and other essential buildings. By 1961, the college had earned four-year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In November 1963, LDS elders established the Polynesian Cultural Center to preserve Pacific cultures encountered during missionary work. This center also provided employment opportunities for students. During the 1970s, the school played a role in preparing LDS missionaries by teaching them Pacific languages and cultures.
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John S. K.
Until 2004, the school operated as a satellite campus of BYU. Subsequently, it was announced that the school would report directly to the Commissioner of Church Education. In 2007, Steven C. Wheelwright assumed the role of college president. On May 12, 2015, Russell M. Nelson announced that John S. Tanner would succeed Wheelwright as president, effective July 27, 2015. On May 12, 2020, Jeffrey R. Holland, announced that Tanner would be succeeded as the institution's president by John S. K.
Academics
BYU offers a variety of academic programs including those in the liberal arts, engineering, agriculture, management, physical and mathematical sciences, nursing, music, and law. Its undergraduate and graduate programs are organized into 11 colleges and schools at its main Provo campus, with some colleges and divisions defining their own admission standards. The university also administers four satellite campuses, one in Jerusalem, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., and London, while its parent organization the Church Educational System (CES) sponsors sister schools in Hawaii and Idaho.
BYU-Hawaii is broadly organized into four colleges. The university offers a diverse range of academic programs, including majors in business, computer science, education, and social work. Unique programs such as Pacific and Asian studies, international cultural studies, and intercultural peacebuilding further enhance students' understanding of different cultures.
BYU also manages some courses and majors through the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies and "miscellaneous" college departments, including Undergraduate Education, Graduate Studies, Independent Study, Continuing Education, and the Honors Program.
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In Fall 2018, BYU-Hawaii restructured its academic organization from four colleges to seven faculty units.
The university operates under 11 colleges or schools, which collectively offer 194 bachelor's degree programs, 68 master's degree programs, 25 PhD programs, and a Juris Doctor program.
Undergraduate students may qualify for graduation honors.
Campus Life
BYU-Hawaii is located in Lāiʻe on Oahu's north shore, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of Honolulu. The campus spans 100 acres (0.40 km2; 0.16 sq mi), nestled between the mountains and the ocean. Instructional facilities include the David O. McKay Classroom Building, the Heber J. Grant Building, and the Science Building. The school's library is the two-story Joseph F.
Apart from academics, BYU-Hawaii offers a vibrant campus life with various extracurricular activities and organizations. Students have access to state-of-the-art facilities, including a newly renovated library, fitness center, and modern classrooms. The campus is located on the beautiful northeastern coast of Oahu, providing students with breathtaking views and opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, surfing, and exploring nearby beaches. Additionally, students have the chance to participate in service-oriented activities through the university's commitment to community engagement and humanitarian projects in the local area and across the globe.
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The main campus in Provo, Utah, sits on approximately 560 acres (2.3 km2) nestled at the base of the Wasatch Mountains and includes 295 buildings. The buildings feature a wide variety of architectural styles, each building being built in the style of its time. The grass, trees, and flower beds on BYU's campus are impeccably maintained. Furthermore, views of the Wasatch Mountains, (including Mount Timpanogos) can be seen from the campus.
BYU's Harold B. Lee Library (also known as "HBLL"), which The Princeton Review ranked as the No. 1 "Great College Library" in 2004, has approximately 8.5 million items in its collections, contains 98 miles (158 km) of shelving, and can seat 4,600 people. The Spencer W.
Several museums on campus contain exhibits from many different fields of study. BYU's Museum of Art, for example, is one of the largest and most attended art museums in the Mountain West. This museum offers research and study opportunities to students and educational programming to the general public. The Museum of Peoples and Cultures is a museum of archaeology and ethnology. It focuses on native cultures and artifacts of the Great Basin, American Southwest, Mesoamerica, Peru, and Polynesia. Home to more than 40,000 artifacts and 50,000 photographs, it documents BYU's archaeological research. The BYU Museum of Paleontology was built in 1976 to display the many fossils found by BYU's James A. Jensen. It holds many vertebrate fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and is one of the top five vertebrate fossil collections in the world from the Jurassic. The museum receives about 25,000 visitors every year. The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum was formed in 1978.
The campus also houses several performing arts facilities. The de Jong Concert Hall seats 1282 people and is named for Gerrit de Jong Jr. The Pardoe Theatre is named for T. Earl and Kathryn Pardoe. Students use its stage in a variety of theatre experiments, as well as for Pardoe Series performances. It seats 500 people, and has quite a large stage with a proscenium opening of 19 by 55 feet (17 m). The Margetts Theatre was named for Philip N. Margetts, a prominent Utah theatre figure. A smaller, black box theater, it allows a variety of seating and staging formats. It seats 125, and measures 30 by 50 feet (15 m). The Nelke Theatre, named for one of BYU's first drama teachers, is used largely for instruction in experimental theater.
BYU has on-campus housing communities for freshmen students as well as for students 19 years and older. Single students who are freshmen have four options for on-campus housing: Heritage Halls, Helaman Halls, Riviera Apartments, and the Foreign Language Student Residence (FLSR). On-campus housing for single students 19 years old and older is available at Wyview Park, Heritage Halls, and in the Foreign Language Student Residence Halls. Branches of the BYU Creamery provide basic food and general grocery products for students living in Heritage Halls, Helaman, Wymount, Wyview, and the Foreign Language Student Residence. The creamery began in 1949 to provide milk for the campus, and soon thereafter it expanded its product line to include ice cream, cheeses, and other University-produced dairy products.
Student Body
BYU has a large student body, with students coming from all 50 of the United States and from many foreign countries attending BYU. (In the 2005-06 academic year, there were 2,396 foreign students, or eight percent of enrollment.) Slightly more than 98 percent of these students are active Latter-day Saints.
BYU classifies as "Research 1: Very High Research Spending And Doctorate Production," the highest Carnegie classification.
Honor Code
All students and faculty are required to agree to adhere to an honor code, officially known as the CES Honor Code, but often referred to as the BYU Honor Code. Early forms of the BYU Honor Code are found as far back as the days of the Brigham Young Academy and educator Karl G. Maeser. The Honor Code itself was created in 1940 at BYU and was used mainly for cases of cheating and academic dishonesty. Ernest L. Wilkinson expanded the Honor Code in 1957 to include other school standards. (At this time, Wilkinson, as President of BYU, had some authority over BYU-Hawaii as well.) This led to the Honor Code today: rules regarding chastity, dress, grooming, and drugs (including alcohol). A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process and must be adhered by all students, faculty, and staff. Students and faculty found in violation of standards are either warned or called to meet with representatives of the Honor Council. In rare cases, students and faculty can be expelled from the school or lose tenure.
All students are required to take religion classes as part of their curriculum and to attend Sunday church meetings, both LDS and non-LDS. In addition, class schedules are arranged to allow devotionals to be held weekly for the students to attend.
One significant difference between the versions of the Honor Code used at the main BYU campus and BYU-Hawaii is specific prohibition of the drinking of kava by BYU-Hawaii students and faculty.
Athletics
BYU-Hawaii formerly competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II as a member of the Pacific West Conference. The "Seasiders" competed in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross-country, men's and women's golf, softball, men's and women's tennis, volleyball, and men's and women's soccer. Over its history, the school won two women's volleyball and eleven tennis championships (two men's and nine women's, along with one women's NCAA championship). In its early days, BYU-Hawaii also won a National Rugby Championship in 1967. Basketball and volleyball games were held in the George Q. Cannon Activities Center. On March 28, 2014, the college announced that the athletics program would be phased out over the next three years, with money spent on athletics to be used to provide educational opportunities for an additional 500 students.
BYU's Organization and Administration
BYU is a part of CES. It is organized under a board of trustees, with the president of the church (currently Russell M. Nelson) as chairman. This board consists of the same people as the Church Board of Education, a pattern that has been in place since 1939. Prior to 1939, BYU had a separate board of trustees that was subordinate to the Church Board of Education. The president of BYU, currently C.
Rankings & Recognition
News & World Report ranked BYU No.
In 2019, The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education ranked BYU tied for No. 1 "Worth the Cost" college. Likewise, Forbes rated BYU No. Forbes magazine ranked it as the No.
In 2016, the university's Marriott School of Management received a No. 18 ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek for its undergraduate programs, and its MBA program was ranked by several sources: No. 25 ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2018, No. 19 by Forbes in 2017, and tied for No. News & World Report for 2021. For 2020, the university's School of Accountancy, which is housed within the Marriott School, received a No. The BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School has a No.
The Harold B. Lee Library is consistently ranked among the top ten in the nation, with a No.
Research
According to the National Science Foundation, BYU spent $137.7 million on research and development in 2023, ranking it 162nd in the nation for research revenue and expenditures.
Scientists associated with BYU have created some notable inventions. Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor and pioneer of the electronic television, began college at BYU, and later returned to do fusion research, receiving an honorary degree from the university in 1967. Alumnus Harvey Fletcher, inventor of stereophonic sound, went on to carry out the now famous oil-drop experiment with Robert Millikan, and was later Founding Dean of the BYU College of Engineering. H. Tracy Hall, inventor of the man-made diamond, left General Electric in 1955 and became a full professor of chemistry and Director of Research at BYU. While there, he invented a new type of diamond press, the tetrahedral press.
Traditions
To provide students with opportunities for both spiritual and intellectual insight, BYU has hosted weekly devotional and forum assemblies since the school's early days. Devotionals are most common and address religious topics, often with academic perspective or insight. Devotional speakers are typically drawn from the BYU faculty and administration or LDS Church leadership, including church presidents George Albert Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Several times each year the devotional is replaced by a forum, which typically addresses a more secular topic and may include a speaker from outside the BYU or Latter-day Saint community.
One of the lasting traditions of Brigham Young University is its strong cultural emphasis and support of the fine arts.
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