Campus Community

Mike Foley | University Relations | 20 November 2008

Prayer is much more than simply sending words up to our Heavenly Father, taught Cynthia Compton, Adjunct Associate Professor of History, during her BYU-Hawaii devotional November 18. It requires thoughtful, faithful actions and even the right words.

Long-time donor to BYU-Hawaii Frank Peck [on the left] taught students in an Honors Program and Students In Free Enterprise forum about success that goes beyond making money held in the Little Theater on Friday, Nov. 7. Peck, founder and CEO of American Money Group, Inc., out of California, is also a member of the LDS Church and he said that families and the Gospel are important contributors to success.

Michael Waite | Ke Alaka'i | 17 November 2008

Brigham Young University Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright [pictured at right] outlined a proposal during a November 6 faculty-staff ohana [family] meeting that would revamp and significantly expand the amount of financial aid available to the university’s international students.

Elder Robert Gay of the Seventy, in his keynote address to the Brigham Young University Hawaii 2008 International Business Conference on November 12, urged Latter-day Saint entrepreneurs, business owners and donors to use their wealth to lift others and find security in challenging economic times through faith and commitment.

The time spent by students at BYU-Hawaii is not a chance for idle indifference, but a time to prepare for church service, said Elder Robert C. Gay, Area Seventy of the North American Southeast Area. That service, explained Elder Gay during his devotional address November 11, will bring about the spiritual and physical salvation of God’s children all over the earth.

Members of a family who donated a rare 1855 edition of the Hawaiian Book of Mormon to the Brigham Young University Hawaii Archives 30 years ago participated on November 7 in unveiling a permanent display of Ka Buke a Moramona in the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors Center.

Like fish who miss baited flies in fast-rushing waters, we can easily fall prey to Satan when we make decisions based on peer-pressure or excited emotions, taught Michael B. Bliss, BYU-Hawaii Vice President for Administration Services, during his devotional address November 4.

China, Japan, Thailand, Navajo, Hawaii, and a variety of other nations and cultures were represented at the second presentation of @RTIMOS, focusing this time on Peace Internationally. The musical concert, arranged by Art Saowichit and a team of students, included musical numbers, dance performances and video to create a feeling of peace and unity across cultures.

Co-captains and BYUH Hawaiian Studies professor Kamoa'e Walk and projects director Kawika Eskaran gave a small number of university and community people the rare opportunity to climb aboard the BYUH sailing canoe Iosepa at its home halau or berth in the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hawaiian village on November 6 as they and some of their students marked the seventh anniversary of the beautiful 57-foot wa'a kaulua or twin-hulled traditional Hawaiian sailing canoe.

The Church Educational System Board of Trustees recently approved a Brigham Young University Hawaii President's Council recommendation to reorganize the school's previous academic divisions into the:

In a fast-paced, globalizing world, technology rules. From online virtual meetings to instant online communication, a strong foundation of new digital media and innovative technology emerges as a forefront prerequisite for success. On October 30, 2008, Brigham Young University Hawaii students welcomed Nathan Henderson, the Chief Operating Officer of the Global Service Partner Management to hear his counsel, insight, and the realities surrounding modern business technology. Henderson’s premise: Business Technology: Challenge and Opportunity. His promise to students: “This is going to impact you big time.”

On the surface, Erika Kuta (pictured at left), a BYU-Hawaii interdisciplinary major from Minnesota might seem like your typical college senior. Like many of her peers, she balances her schoolwork, job and numerous extracurricular activities while still maintaining a much-deserved social life. Yet, just underneath her clever intellect and contagious smile, Kuta offers an eclectic past that puts a whole new spotlight on her own compelling journey to BYU-Hawaii.

The BYU-Hawaii Seasiders will face-off against basketball teams from China and New Zealand next week for the 8th annual American Money Group Asia Pacific Basketball Classic.

Committing even a little sin and thinking it justified can cause serious consequences, taught H. Ross Workman, President of the Laie Hawaii Temple during his devotional address October 28 at BYU-Hawaii. President Workman counseled the students to avoid the idea of “fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin.”

Professors David Bybee of Brigham Young University Hawaii [pictured at left with student Daniel Kaonohi] and Michael Whiting of Brigham Young University in Provo joined forces this past summer to take a group of biology students from both institutions to Papua New Guinea, a remote and relatively unstudied region of the southwest pacific. "We decided that we could get a collaboration going," explained Bybee, "where Whiting, an entomologist, would do the rain forest work, I, a marine biologist, would do the coral reef work and the students we brought with us would get valuable field work experience in both terrestrial and marine environments."

The Brigham Young University Hawaii International Business Conference from November 10-15, 2008 — entitled "Venture Capital and Private Equity: Building Wealth in a Declining Economy" — provides students, community members and other participants a unique opportunity to mingle with top Latter-day Saint business leaders and share both spiritual and temporal insights.