Brigham Young University-Idaho
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| Motto | Rethinking Education |
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| Established | November 12, 1888 |
| Type | Private |
| President | Kim B. Clark |
| Students | 13,500 |
| Location | Rexburg, Idaho, United States |
| Campus | Rural |
| Colors | Blue & Grey |
| Nickname | Vikings |
| Mascot | Thor the Viking |
| Affiliations | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Website | http://www.byui.edu |
Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU-Idaho or BYU-I) is a four-year university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The institution is located in the eastern Idaho community of Rexburg. 99% of the students at BYU-Idaho are LDS (Mormon).[1] Students enrolled at BYU-Idaho are required to follow a strict honor code. BYU-Idaho was known as Ricks College from 1923 until 2000.
BYU–Idaho is part of the LDS Church's Church Educational System, which also includes:
- Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah
- Brigham Young University Hawaii in Laie, Hawaii
- LDS Business College in Salt Lake City, Utah
BYU-Idaho has a four-point mission:
- Build testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and encourage living its principles
- Provide a quality education for students of diverse interests and abilities
- Prepare students for lifelong learning, for employment, and for their roles as citizens and parents
- Maintain a wholesome academic, cultural, social and spiritual environment
President
BYU–Idaho is currently led by President Kim B. Clark. Clark previously served as dean of the Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Clark is a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) and he left Harvard to take the top post at BYU-Idaho at the invitation of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. Clark started his BYU-Idaho presidency in August 2005.
At the beginning of his presidency, Clark introduced three imperatives to guide BYU–Idaho in fulfilling its four-part mission:
- 1. Raise the quality of the experience students have while at BYU–Idaho.
- 2. Make a BYU–Idaho education available to more students.
- 3. Lower the relative cost of education.
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[edit] History
- 1888. The LDS Church opens Bannock Stake Academy in Rexburg. The academy was one of several organized in the Mormon communities of the western United States.
- 1898. The school is renamed Fremont Stake Academy.
- 1903. The school is renamed Ricks Academy in honor of Thomas E. Ricks, founder of Rexburg and chairman of the school’s first Board of Education.
- 1923. The school became known as Ricks College.
- June 2000. LDS Church leaders announce that Ricks College, then the largest private junior college in the nation, would become Brigham Young University–Idaho. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley explained the name change was designed to give the institution immediate national and international recognition. Intercollegiate athletics were phased out, and an innovative Activities Program that allows a greater number of students to take part in athletics and other pursuits was implemented.
The college continued to grow and expand throughout the 20th Century, eventually enrolling more than 13,000 students (Fall 2006).
The transition from Ricks College to BYU–Idaho progressed quickly. Enrollment would eventually grow by some 4,000 students. Dozens of baccalaureate programs and an innovative academic calendaring system were introduced. In 2004 BYU–Idaho became accredited at the baccalaureate level by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
[edit] Academics
The university is organized into six academic colleges:
- Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Language and Letters
- Business and Communication
- Performing and Visual Arts
- Education and Human Development
- Physical Sciences and Engineering
BYU–Idaho is a two-tiered institution, offering both two-year associate degrees and four-year bachelor’s degrees. Sixteen associate degrees offer students specialization in a major field of study along with a carefully selected curriculum of general education. BYU-Idaho offers 16 Associate degree programs and 60 Bachelors degree programs.
[edit] Three-track System
BYU–Idaho operates on an expanded year-round basis to allow more students the opportunity to attend. The academic calendar is divided into winter, summer, and fall semesters. Students are admitted to one of three tracks: summer/fall, fall/winter, or winter/summer. The system allows students to be “off-track” for one semester each year, and they stay on the same track through graduation.
A year-round Fast Track program is also available. Students participating in Fast Track generally start after their sophomore year at BYU–Idaho and continue year-round (summer, fall, and winter) until graduating.
Starting in 2007, BYU–Idaho will implement a revised academic calendar utilizing three 14-week semesters. This will enable more students to attend the summer semester.
[edit] Activities Program
BYU-Idaho has an "Activities Program" organized into six areas: Outdoor, Social, Service, Talent, Fitness, and Sports.
Intercollegiate athletics were discontinued when Ricks College changed its name to BYU–Idaho. Instead of intercollegiate athletics, BYU-Idaho has a competitive intra-collegiate athletics program as part of the Activities Program in which several teams from within the University compete against one another.
[edit] Faculty
BYU–Idaho employs approximately 470 faculty members. Instructors are engaged in a wide range of scholarly activities, but the faculty’s primary focus is on the teaching and development of students. The university maintains a low student to faculty ratio, and there is no faculty rank.
[edit] Students
Approximately 13,500 full-time students were enrolled at BYU–Idaho during the Fall 2006 semester. Students come from all 50 states and more than 50 countries.
The student body at BYU-Idaho is notably homogenous. During the Winter 2006 semester, 91% of the students are Caucasian. The largest minority group for the Winter 2006 semester is Hispanic, representing 3% of the student body. [2]
During the Winter 2006 semester, 99.8% of the students are members of the LDS (Mormon) Church. [3]
By one list of statistics, almost 40% of BYU-Idaho students come from the state of Idaho. [4] This list of statistics ranks the top five home states of BYU-Idaho students (as a percentage of total students) as follows:
- Idaho 38%
- Utah 10%
- California 10%
- Washington 8%
- New Mexico 6%
About 25 percent of the student body is married, and about 40 percent have served as full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[edit] Honor Code
The students, faculty, and staff of BYU–Idaho adhere to a rigorous Honor Code that reflects the beliefs and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Honor Code emphasizes:
- Honesty
- Chastity and virtue
- Obeying the law and all campus policies
- Using clean language
- Respecting others
- Abstaining from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and recreational drugs
- Frequent church attendance
- Encouraging others to comply with the Honor Code.
The code includes guidelines for dress and grooming. Overalls, baseball caps, and flip-flop sandals are forbidden. Female students are forbidden to have more than one pair of earrings, while male students are not permitted to have earrings at all. Male students are not allowed to wear beards (though moustaches are allowed). An exception to the beard policy is allowed for those who either have medical reasons (certain skin conditions affected by shaving) or for those of other faiths with religious reasons for beards. [5]
[edit] Student Life/Culture
The university's relative geographic isolation from a metropolitan area, combined with the strong moral standards taught and encouraged by the school and it's sponsoring organization, contribute to a unique student culture unlike that of any other university. Alcohol and drug use are practically non-existent, as the use of the aforementioned is strictly prohibited by the school's honor code as well as the LDS Church. There is also no Greek community.
Much of BYU-Idaho student life revolves around events sponsored by the university, which frequently hosts dances, concerts, and sports events, among other things. One event that has proven immensely popular with the student body is a three-day series of concerts called "Guitars Unplugged," held each semester, which features mainly acoustic music performed by student performers and groups who are selected by audition. The last concert is normally held in the Hart Auditorium, which features selected acts from the previous two nights, and almost always sells out the roughly 4,300 seat arena.
Also popular event is an annual Halloween concert performed by the Symphony Orchestra. Music department faculty, students in the ensemble, and even audience members dress up in Halloween costumes. It features music commonly associated with the Halloween season, as well as skits by various faculty members.
The school has recently been developing a thriving jazz scene, which is aggressively promoted by students who participate in jazz area classes, such as the Sound Alliance Big Band and jazz combos, as well as music department faculty. As of Fall 2006, students in the jazz combo program have began performing at a local restaurant/club called the "Heart, Mind and Soul," as a free service to get the students more performance time. Faculty jazz concerts and the annual BYU-Idaho Jazz festival are also becoming popular events with students. The school has featured such artists as Cyrus Chestnut, Nicholas Payton, Ed Calle, Bob Mintzer, and Harold Jones.
A few independent student bands have had moderate success locally and regionally, such as My Camera, National Holiday, and Fortunate Son. Rexburg has two recording studios that have contributed to the thriving music scene.
Rexburg is situated in a strong northern climate in which winter dominates, and as such, winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and ice hockey are popular. There are two nearby ski resorts, Grand Targhee and Kelly Canyon, which are frequented by students. However, Rexburg also experiences warm summers, and bridge jumping has become a popular activity with many summer students. Students also visit the nearby St. Anthony sand dunes frequently, where large bon fires have become popular, but are also illegal.
BYU-Idaho also has a strong reputation as a focal point for young Latter-day Saints to seek out a prospective spouse, and as such dating is an important activity.
[edit] The "Spirit of Ricks"
One of the unique characteristics of the "BYU–Idaho experience" is referred to by students, employees, and alumni as the “Spirit of Ricks”—a campus tradition of service, hard work, friendliness, and compassion. Throughout the transition from Ricks College to BYU–Idaho, university leaders have stressed the importance of preserving and enhancing the “Spirit of Ricks.”
[edit] Facilities
The BYU–Idaho campus includes nearly 40 major buildings and residence halls on over 400 acres. Since the transition from Ricks College, new buildings have been constructed and others have been renovated or expanded. Several auditoriums and theaters are found on campus, including the acoustically renowned Barrus Concert Hall, which houses the acclaimed Ruffati organ, the third largest organ owned by the LDS Church, after the Tabernacle and Conference Center organs in Salt Lake City, Utah. On October 31, 2006, groundbreaking was held for the final phase of the expansion of BYU-Idaho from Ricks College. This expansion will include an addition to the Manwaring Center and a new auditorium with the capability of holding the entire student body.
The university is also home to a planetarium, an arboretum, natural history, geology, and wildlife museums, and a Family History Center for genealogical research. KBYI-FM, a 100,000 watt public radio station, broadcasts to eastern Idaho and parts of Wyoming and Montana.
Off-campus facilities include a Livestock Center and the Henry’s Fork Outdoor Learning Center near Rexburg, the Outdoor Learning Center at Badger Creek in Idaho’s Teton Basin, and the Natural Science Center in Island Park, Idaho. The Teton Lodge and Quickwater Lodge near Victor, Idaho, are utilized as student leadership and service centers.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Marion G. Romney - Former counselor in First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Rulon Gardner - 2000 Olympic Greco Roman Wrestling Champion
- Stephen G. Hanks, President and CEO of Washington Group International
