In his traditional, annual mid-year "state of the campus" address, BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway told the combined faculty and staff the answers to two questions he's frequently asked, reviewed the university's top priorities and initiatives, and summarized the success to date of the Voyage of Faith fundraising campaign.
"I start work early and I go home late," is how President Shumway handles his Area Authority Seventy, university administration, Jubilee, fundraising, board meetings, travel and other responsibilities. He also cited the Tongan word, ngatü -- meaning the "condition of intense excitement and movement" -- as an appropriate description of all he does.
"I am making no immediate plans. I am here for the duration," is how the 65-year-old leaders responds when asked when he's going to retire. "I serve at the pleasure of the Board. I have no personal agenda for anything specific beyond BYU-Hawaii. In the meantime I am too engaged to even think about retiring. There's too much ngatü in my life."
Before proceeding further, President Shumway also said, "One of the great blessings that I have become more and more aware of in the last several months is the love and support we receive from our leading brethren in the Church. Elder Scott, who is the chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, could not be more complimentary and supportive of BYU-Hawaii, and President Hinckley has visited our campus and community three times in the last year.
Top priorities: "Returnability is among the top four priorities of the university. It has immense interest on the part of the Board of Trustees," he continued. It should be on our minds, it should be in our plans, in our counseling, in our teaching, in our training of students, and in our admissions and placement.
President Shumway explained "our effort to create a culture of returnability involves an admissions initiative," a campus mentoring and tracking program, in-country internships, and sophisticated placement support for graduates.
"The international internship effort we feel is key to returnability," he said, pointing out that over 120 students from 28 countries will take advantage of the international internship program this year, and that "travel to and from the home country, with some living expenses, is funded by scholarship from a single major donor to the university."
In the next priority of re-accreditation, President Shumway said the university's proposal to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges so impressed them that "BYU-Hawaii has now become a model WASC uses to help other institutions of higher learning get started in creating a proposal. It is wonderful to receive accolades on this part of our accreditation efforts, but clearly we will be judged by how well we achieve the stated goals and objectives which are enshrined in the accreditation themes themselves."
"That means that we are all involved in returnability. We are all involved in teaching English effectively. We are all involved in reviewing our general education and our major programs. And please note," he said, "that every single theme and objective ultimately translates in how we bless the lives of individual students. It is in the student's behavior and accomplishments that our educational effectiveness as an institution is measured."
Turning to major initiatives and projects, President Shumway said the university is implementing "a new ERP system, moving from Datatel to PeopleSoft. This will be a 22-month $5.3 million project... Despite the inconvenience and the fact that nearly every person will have to rise to a new level of computer literacy and use of this new system, it will be a tremendous blessing to all of us. It will bring us into closer union with BYU Provo and the Church."
He said other recent projects include the new front entrance, the first phase of refurbishing the McKay Building foyer, the new Career Center; renovations to the CITO, Human Resources, Housing, Admissions and Alumni offices; planned upgrades to the Financial Aid, Registrar, MIS and University Advancement areas; additional married student housing, an upperclassmen's dormitory, refurbishing of the Aloha Center, and conceptual plans for a new School of Business.
Regarding fundraising, President Shumway said, "I am pleased to announce that in 2004 we achieve an all-time high of raising $9.1 million overall."
He went on to explain this money has enabled BYU-Hawaii to complete a $1 million Mongolian scholarship endowment; defray the costs of expanding the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hawaiian village, which will house the Hawaiian Studies voyaging canoe, Iosepa; $1 million for the International Work Exchange Scholarship (IWES) program; complete a $2 million endowment for the School fo Business; assist the Center for Instructional Outreach and Technology (CITO), International Teacher Experience Program, English as a second language initiative, the Center for International Entrepreneurship, and the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding programs.
Concluding his address, President Shumway asked the university "family" to optimize their "professional courtesy, kindness and patience. If we ever needed to follow the prophet Alma's admonition — Let there be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another (Alma 18:21) — it should be now as we celebrate Heavenly Father's goodness in preserving and in causing this place to flourish."
Concluding his address, President Shumway asked the university "family" to optimize their "professional courtesy, kindness and patience. If we ever needed to follow the prophet Alma's admonition — Let there be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another (Alma 18:21) — it should be now as we celebrate Heavenly Father's goodness in preserving and in causing this place to flourish."