BYUH: President's Page: President's Report

President's Report

Returnability:

The BYU-Hawaii Futures Committee has set the returnability of its international students to their homelands after graduating as a key objective, following up on a 2001 recommendation from the Church Education System Executive Committee. Soon after that recommendation, we charged an eclectic Campus Returnability Committee to study the issues.

Based on their recent report, BYU-Hawaii is committed to developing a campus culture that makes it more desirable for international students to return home by insuring they have the skills and connections to succeed economically and spiritually as leaders within their families, communities and the Church. We have termed this “Return-ABILITY.”

Our Return-ABILITY initiatives must include strong personal and family commitments as well as local ecclesiastical participation during recruitment; provide deep spirituality, employable knowledge and leadership skills while students are in school; and extend back into the home countries near or after graduation through internship and placement connections.

Developing Return-ABILITY is a University-wide project that we will achieve over time in manageable increments. For example, we are currently strengthening our placement program on campus, recently started pilot placement councils in Korea and Japan, and also appointed placement “ambassadors” in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

A great deal more remains to be done to address this complex issue. We will share progress reports as the initiatives advance.

The Golden Jubilee: From this School…

BYU-Hawaii celebrated its golden jubilee, or 50th anniversary, throughout 2005. A large steering committee planned multiple events under the theme of President David O. McKay’s prophetic words, “From this school…”

The Golden Jubilee was a most memorable occasion, on a scale similar to the wonderful “Pioneers in the Pacific” celebration many of you will recall we held in 1997 as our part of the Church’s “Faith in Every Footstep” sesquicentennial — only larger and better.

The year was filled with pageantry, performances, presentations and special events, with the high point a week-long concentration of activities.

The Golden Jubilee also marked a significant point in our goal to raise $20 million as part of our Lighting the Way campaign. We have been working closely with alumni, friends and others to achieve this goal; but please realize, it’s a stretch and we need everyone’s help. Mahalo for joining us…for both the campaign and the celebration.

“Joined at the Heart”:

BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center are working more closely together today than ever before, and we continue to search for new ways to strengthen our common bonds.

For example, we are looking into the possibility of granting credit hours for training at the Cultural Center, and other ways of cross-sharing our resources for the betterment of both institutions.

I recently told a group of graduates that “the Polynesian Cultural Center and the BYU-Hawaii Campus are locked in a tight, symbiotic relationship. The uniqueness of our campus, as a university, is really in our connection with the Polynesian Cultural Center, where you have a major business and a major university working to serve and prepare young men and women for leadership in the Church and in the world."

"Everything that the Polynesian Cultural Center does, and everything that the BYU-Hawaii does, is for students: For their growth, for their education, for their practical experience, for their financial resources. All of these things happen because we are working together."

"It is not an accident that PCC would do this program for us tonight. They are us and we are them. Somebody said we are joined at the hip with the PCC. That's really not quite accurate: We're really joined at the heart with the Polynesian Cultural Center.”

More recently, the Brethren have authorized The LDS Foundation, which oversees charitable fundraising for the Church, to include the Polynesian Cultural Center in their efforts.

These have been difficult times Hawaii tourism and the Cultural Center, and yet they continue to offer an exceptional experience to guests while providing so much help to our students. We need to do everything we can, both as an institution and as individuals, to help our sister institution succeed. In helping the Center, we help ourselves.