The annual Ohana Meeting was held Thursday, September 6, in the McKay Auditorium for all faculty, staff, missionaries and volunteers. The purpose of this annual gathering is to welcome new members of the ohana from the past year, and give updates and spotlights on campus and university happenings. In total, 33 new employees were introduced to the BYU–Hawaii ohana and 34 missionaries and volunteers were recognized for their service.
Following the introductions, Dave Lewis, vice president of construction and facilities management, reported on the current campus construction status and outlined the next phases of campus development that are planned to support a Board-approved enrollment expansion over the next several years. Current projects under construction include a multi-use building (academic and ecclesiastical space), two buildings for married student housing, two single student dormitories, and one single student apartment building. The housing facilities are scheduled to be ready for Fall semester in 2013. (Construction updates and information can be found at OrangeCone.byuh.edu.)
Phillip McArthur, dean of the College of Language, Culture and Arts, and Hiagi Wesley, director of the Jonathan Napela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Studies, shared the success of the most recent Iosepa sail that returned on August 28 after sailing around the island of Oahu. (put the link to the other story) One of the highlights of the sail was the fulfillment of a commitment by BYU–Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright to make it possible for Kupuna and other community members to participate in the sail. The Iosepa is a 57-foot, double-hulled voyaging canoe that serves as a ‘floating classroom’ for teaching traditional navigational skills to students.
President Wheelwright praised the growth of online learning through BYU–Hawaii. He explained how BYU–Hawaii is focusing on additional developments in online education through three new initiatives, in China, the Philippines and New Zealand. “We were asked by the [Asia] Area Presidency to create an initiative for two reasons: to help prepare members to serve missions and to prepare students to attend BYU–Hawaii.” The other two online initiatives are at the Manila Institute of Religion and in Auckland with a Temple View as a satellite site. “Eleven percent of credits last year were from online learning,” said President Wheelwright, which includes both distance learning students and on-campus students who take online classes.
The meeting concluded with an overview of the recent Church Educational System (CES) Executive Committee visit to campus. A sample of the presentations that were given to the committee was shown, as well as a video of Elder Russell M. Nelson, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom and Sister Linda K. Burton sharing their impressions of the students and future of the university following their visit.
Following the Ohana Meeting was the Faculty meeting in which Max Checketts, vice president for academics, announced that David Bybee, professor of biology at BYU–Hawaii, will be the University Convocation speaker on Thursday, September 27, 2012. It was also announced that the Fine Arts Department will be split into two departments, Visual Arts and Music and Performing Arts, effective January 2013. President Wheelwright then shared insight on the future of CES education, which in part addressed the future of online learning. At the close of the faculty meeting, Brother Checketts extended the invitation to all present to “help our students attend weekly Devotionals. The best way to do that is for them to follow our example. We have roughly thirteen Devotionals a semester; make it a goal to attend at least ten Devotionals.” Using a story from President Hugh B. Brown, Brother Checketts said, “You will not know the impact the Devotionals will have on the students.”