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Jerold and Jo Ann Ottley are outstanding examples of the BYU-Hawaii professors who willingly shared their time and talents, and extended their love to the students for the last three years.

Approximately half the students at BYU-Hawaii come from over 70 countries around the world — including only one from the southeastern Caribbean island nation of Grenada, Salisha Allard [pictured at left].

Dr. Neil Freeman, Professor Emeritus, researcher, and literary connoisseur visiting from The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, offered BYU-Hawaii students attending a recent Honors Colloquium an insightful, helpful, and witty exploration of one of English literature's most prominent contributors: William Shakespeare. In the process, he enlightened the BYUH students with a uniquely creative and new perspective on the life and work of the Great Bard.

The BYU-Hawaii Salsa Orchestra and Brass Quintet visited the island of Kauai from March 6 to 9 to showcase their talents in four performances and allow the students to interact with Latter-day Saints and others during the tour.

While growing up in Florida, Jermaine Odjegba [pictured at left] had a unique love for playing basketball. Not only did he love it, he was also fortunate to be very good at it. His ultimate goal was to one-day play basketball professionally. As his life has played out, however, his dreams have taken a bit of a turn.

The BYU-Hawaii Honors Program, under the direction of Dr. Randall Allred, offered hundreds of students a wealth of educational opportunity and adventure during the Fall 2007 and Winter 2008 semesters.

A weekend feast of history and musical arts featuring Trinidadian composer, arranger, and performer Ray 'Soul of Pan' Holman [pictured at left] enriched the BYU-Hawaii stage this past weekend, entertaining and educating audiences with the sounds and songs of another island culture.

Elder W. Craig Zwick, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, urged students to better build their lives on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in his devotional address at BYU-Hawaii on April 15, and offered suggestions on “creating and strengthening a sure foundation.”

When I met with Than Lim [pictured at left] the first thing he said to me was, "I don't think I have an interesting story."

Elder Joshua Subandriyo, Area Authority Seventy in Indonesia, highlighted his many service experiences during his BYU-Hawaii devotional address on April 8 and told how they added to his "journey of life in the Restored Gospel."

Reporting their interim "deliverables" to several hundred faculty and staff in the McKay Auditorium on April 10, the BYU-Hawaii Organizational Design Team proposed sharpening the focus on the university's core processes by reorganizing the administration into three major divisions: Academics, Student Support and University Support. Vice presidents for each of the divisions, plus an Assistant to the President, will comprise the proposed new President's Council, who report directly to BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright [pictured at upper left].

Ryan Anderson | University Advancement | 7 April 2008

President Jonathan S. Durrett, Second Counselor in the Hawaii-Honolulu Mission admonished students during his devotional address at BYU-Hawaii on Thursday, April 3, to follow the teachings of Christ and “be the salt of the earth,” especially in missionary work.

President Durrett began his devotional address with a story about the Hanapepe salt ponds on the island of Kauai: An old Hawaiian woman who had taken too many fish from the sea was troubled that she would have to suffer for her mistakes. In her lamenting, she was visited by Pele, the Hawaiian demigoddess who had pity on the woman and showed her how to dig a hole that would eventually fill with salt water. In this pit, the woman could preserve her fish so they were not wasted. Said Durrett, “this was the beginning of the sacred practice of Hawaiian salt-making.”

There are some people who, when you meet them, you know there is something special about them. You can't quite put your finger on what it is, but an unusual quality is certainly there. This was the case when I met BYU-Hawaii student Appolonie Nahishikeye. It did not take more than a few minutes of talking with her to figure out that extraordinary quality.

Growing up in a small town, of only 3,000 people can give a person a very strong curiosity to learn about the vast world, which certainly has to exist beyond their own limited experience. This was the case with me.

Ryan Anderson| University Advancement | 7 April 2008


Leading international employment consultant and author of The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas, Jean-Marc Hachey (at left), provided information and tips on international employment during the BYU-Hawaii’s Career Services seminar on International Employment held Thursday, March 27 and Friday March 28.

Hachey, who is originally from Canada, has a long list of activities and involvement with organizations that qualify his expertise in the subject. According to Kim Austin, director of Career Services, he received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of New Brunswick in 1979 and a Master of Arts in Political Science from the Université Laval, in Québec City, Canada, in 1986.

Ryan Anderson | University Advancement | 7 April 2008


At a small awards ceremony in the BYU-Hawaii Macintosh Computer Lab on March 19, three students won prizes in the first annual brainhoney.com online lesson competition.

Aaron Doxey, a senior from Provo, Utah, majoring in Information Systems with a minor in Instructional Design and Development (IDD), won the competition and received a scholarship worth $1,000 from Agilix, Inc., the sponsor of both the brainhoney.com site and the competition. Doxey said his instructional video, “Résumé Building,” on how to make an effective résumé, is actually one of four parts to a project he is putting together for Career Services.

Hundreds of faculty, staff, administrators, service missionaries, volunteers, spouses and guests culminated BYU-Hawaii Employee Appreciation week from March 31 to April 2 and celebrated the university's "new horizons" with a ho'omaika'i [thankfulness] program and luau dinner at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright [pictured at left] and members of his executive council tackled the latest round of questions submitted by email and in person during the April 2 question-and-answer forum in the Little Theater, including: