About 100 BYU-Hawaii faculty, staff and administration representatives spent the morning of August 12 in a retreat to focus on building capacities in key areas as the university prepares for the golden jubilee celebration in 2005 and re-accreditation in 2006.
"The re-accreditation process includes what is called capacity review," President Eric B. Shumway explained to the group, who met in the Stake Center cultural hall, "or a formal document that will describe our various capacities at the university to accomplish our stated mission and deliver what we think should be the four themes of our re-accreditation."
Those four themes are 1) an outcome assessment of our major academic programs; 2) an outcome assessment of our general education programs; 3) teaching the English language across campus; and 4) the placement of students after graduation, including graduate school.
President Shumway said the capacities to deliver these depend on programs, processes, infrastructure, learning resources, personnel, budget and financial resources and sustainability. "Capacity ultimately has to do with the human soul," he added, also listing "desire, a willing unity of purpose, faith in Christ, faith in ourselves...and the one quality that is essential, if not central, to all learning relative to leadership and everything else -- humility.
"I have learned again and again that humility is having the capacity to change," President Shumway continued. "Humility is also the ability and disposition to recognize and capitalize on real strengths."
"True humility is a refreshing liberator from pride and all of its petty rationalizations," President Shumway said, comparing pride to the one-eyed monster, Cyclops. "The development of all Godly attributes is grounded in humility, which in one sense is the willingness to acknowledge the Cyclops in our lives and drive him out. Then we are prepared to learn anew, from whatever direction."
President Shumway cited D&C 11, "one of my favorite sections...that touches upon many of the qualities of soul: Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so it shall be done unto you; and, if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation . . . all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive" [v. 8-14].
Dr. Keith Roberts, Academic Vice President, spoke more specifically on capacity relative to accreditation, which in Hawaii is overseen by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
"We're a good school, we really are, and we have a good reputation," Dr. Roberts said. "This accreditation should be guiding us in things that we are already doing.
"Educational effectiveness -- what we say we're going to do -- is what drives our educational capacity," he continued, stressing the importance of a review process that "includes the collection and use of data that assure delivery of programs and learner accomplishments at a level of performance appropriate for the degree or certificate awarded."
"We have to do more than just say we're doing something," he said. "We have to have the evidence."
Consequently, BYU-Hawaii plans to replace its existing and aging database system with new enterprise resource planning (ERP) modules, Dr. Roberts said, pointing out that BYU-Hawaii's enterprise is delivering education. "Our capacity to do enterprise resource planning is critical to maintaining our capacity to deliver that education," he added.
BYU-Hawaii Chief Information Officer Jim Nilson explained that a university committee has spent many hours defining the appropriate ERP hardware and software to select, and that once approved, the transition will take time, personnel, a significant amount of training, other resources and patience to implement.
The retreat also included a segment on other training programs available to the university "family," led by Arlene Anderson. Quoting Stephen L. Covey, she said, "To achieve goals you've never achieved before, you have to start doing things you've never done before."
Following a lively question-and-answer period, Dr. Roberts said, "If there's no other message you get out of this today, it is that we shouldn't be doing anything special for accreditation. Accreditation is guiding us in the things that we should be doing anyway."
"We must raise the bar in terms of all of our performance," President Shumway said in conclusion. "Certainly there is an expectation that we will raise the bar within ourselves."
"I want to declare my own confidence in all of us here that we can rise to the occasion and we can make the change," he continued. "As we move into this very exciting new year, I want to bear testimony again of the value of your responsibility. It's awesome and it is sacred."