EMPLOYEE N EWS L E TTE R
O cto ber 2016
BYU-Idaho’s newest building, the Science and Technology Center, opened this fall. The new building is home to the Computer Information Technology (CIT), Animal and Food Science, Applied Plant Science, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments.
Faculty & students grateful for Science and Technology Center The new Science and Technology Center (STC) opened its doors to students for the first time this semester, providing additional space and facilities to improve the classroom experience. “Going from the Austin Building to this, it’s like a night and day difference,” said Ian Schoenrock, a software engineer major from Jacksonville, Florida. “It’s incredible how much has improved, and it’s an amazing feeling every time I come in here.” The STC is 106,008 square feet. It contains 51 faculty offices, 23 classrooms, 18 lab spaces, 2 conference rooms, 12 restrooms, 9 telecommunication rooms, 5 student study rooms, 33 miles of electrical wire and 26 skylights. It is also the most energy efficient building on campus. The new building is home to the Computer Information Technology (CIT), Animal and Food Science, Applied Plant Science, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments. The building
offers larger classrooms, offices, study rooms, and state of the art lab facilities. Construction on the basement floor will be completed by the end of the fall semester. “The neat things about the building are that the classrooms are really nice and flexible so we can move the students around more,” said Richard Grimmett, department chair of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. “It makes it easy to have a lecture style format in one class, and a more project based, group based learning opportunity in other classes.” From the time the decision was made to move the departments housed in the new building, it was anticipated that the space and equipment would be essential in order to keep up with the growing student enrollment. “We are growing at a really rapid rate,” Grimmett said. “When I came here six years ago, our department had 300 students, and now has 2,000. We’re
adding about 500 students a year, and about 300 of those are face to face.” The modern lab facilities in the building will provide students with hands-on experience by participating in research efforts and other activities to build their portfolios. A computer help center is available for CIT, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering students who need assistance with various projects and assignments. Food Science students can use the food processing lab, sensory lab and food analysis lab to understand the chemical makeup of different foods as well as the processing techniques used to prepare them. When the basement is finished, the building will be complete with three additional electronic labs, a dairy lab, and a meat lab. “We’re on a very small scale, but these facilities will still give students CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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President’s Update: Innovations to organize online growth By President Clark G. Gilbert
In the 1970s Seminaries and Institutes was given the initiative to provide religious education opportunities to Latter-day Saints, wherever the Church was organized. Today CES has been charged to provide educational opportunities to Church members across the world, and BYU-Idaho is playing a significant role in that initiative. This semester BYU-Idaho is serving more than
45,000 students, and over 60 percent are online (including Pathway students).
Development; and Lynne Anderson, Online Student Services (see Chart 1).
BYU-Idaho has made a number of changes in the last year to better meet the needs of online students. Jon Linford was made Online Vice President last fall and has since created an Online Executive Council, bringing together those who serve our online students. This council includes Jon Linford, Online Vice President; JD Griffith, Pathway; Kendall Peck, Online Programs; Alan Young, Online Learning; Eric Karl, Curriculum
Additionally, an online associate dean has been appointed from each college (see Chart 2). This group will facilitate a productive working relationship between our campus faculty and the online team, which is critical to our online efforts.
Chart 1: The Online Executive Council brings together employees who serve BYU-Idaho’s online students.
Chart 2: Online associate deans work with campus faculty and the online team to further online education efforts.
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One other innovation includes the Online Course Council. This council consists of a campus faculty lead, who chairs the council; a curriculum designer; and an online course representative (see Chart 3). The campus faculty have first stewardship over course outcomes, content, and assessment. The online course developer is in charge of online course design. Online has sometimes been perceived as a cost-and-reach initiative; but recent innovations such as dashboards and course data portals will help course councils raise quality by making courses more responsive to data, including direct learning assessment. The Online Course Council allows us to improve online courses to meet the needs of students both here in Rexburg and around the world. It is clear that the Lord is accelerating His educational gathering across the Church. We are confident that these organizational innovations will continue to help us as we seek to improve the quality of an ever-growing university. &
Chart 3: The Online Course Council brings together representatives from different sections of online learning at BYU-Idaho.
Emergency preparedness campaign launches on campus I-Prepare, a new campus-wide emergency preparedness campaign, launched at the end of September with the goal of providing the campus community with information about how to respond to various emergency situations that could take place on campus. All materials direct employees and students to a website organized into three separate categories: Natural Disasters, Health Risks, and Safety and Security Threats. A survey conducted at the beginning of the semester indicated that nearly 70 percent of the campus community is not aware of BYU-Idaho’s emergency plans and procedures. Survey respondents also indicated they felt least prepared with emergencies related to safety and security. The process for developing such a campaign has been a long one, according to Brett Sampson, university public affairs director. “The University Emergency Council has been interested for at least a year in how we could consolidate and make available all of the resources and information about how to prepare for campus emergencies, and this is the culmination of it,” Sampson said.
Posters, email messages, and advertisements on campus TV’s are some of the mediums that are being used to educate the campus community on how to respond to emergency situations. “Everyone in the campus community should take note of the distinct yellow and black posters and materials that will be distributed around campus. They have instructions on everything from a winter storm, to an active shooter on campus,” Sampson said.
with it, which provide the necessary information to remember if that particular emergency situation were to occur. Those essentials will be displayed on posters across campus each semester, with more detailed information on the I-Prepare website: emergency.byui.edu. “There are certain things we can do to prepare ourselves to respond appropriately in any emergency,” Sampson said. “Being more informed will create a safer atmosphere here at BYU-Idaho.” &
In January 2016, businessinsider.com ranked BYU-Idaho as the tenth safest campus in the United States, but the university is by no means immune to emergencies. “This campaign will benefit the students and employees at BYU-Idaho by providing them safety training. They will be able to react to emergencies better and more quickly because they will have been taught how to react,” said Garth Gunderson, BYUIdaho’s Safety and Security director. One thing this campaign strives to achieve is simplicity. To do this, each emergency situation has a set of three specific instructions that go along
Visit the new I-Prepare website by scanning this QR code or visiting emergency.byui.edu
I-Prepare, BYU-Idaho’s new emergency preparedness campaign, educates the campus community on how to respond to different emergency situations.
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Academic Support Center strengthens tutors and tutored The Academic Support Center is much more than a place to provide students with assistance in completing assignments or getting good grades in their courses. It is a place for students to reach beyond themselves and to serve and lift one another. “Our students look to us as leaders to help them and guide them,” said Camila Sanabria, an Online Writing Center tutor. “We are learning to be more selfless and caring about the people we work with.” The Academic Support Center is comprised of eight learning centers to accommodate students’ academic needs. In 2015, it had 750 paid tutors and 710 volunteer tutors. Over the past few years, the Academic Support Center has seen an increase in the number of tutors. From 2014 to 2015 the number of volunteer tutors nearly doubled from 376 to 710. Those who volunteer as tutors give back to the students by teaching and mentoring on and off campus. Sanabria said she is grateful for the responsibility she is entrusted with to serve her fellow students. “It’s been a huge blessing in my life to help others on this path of progression,” Sanabria said. “It has helped me decide my own career path.” Sanabria participated in helping a student during a time of reactivation in the Church while she tutored that
student in the Pathway program. “I’ve been able to work with her on some papers and see her testimony grow a little bit more. It’s cool to see that personal growth in the students,” Sanabria said. Sheldon Lawrence, director of the Online Writing Center, says tutors help off-campus students such as those involved in Pathway, feel close to and
“Preparation becomes accountability which becomes maturity. They will learn to take it upon themselves to do hard things.” —REBECCA SNELGROVE, STUDENT TUTOR
a part of campus, and make them feel comfortable when learning new subjects. “There is a definite connection there. Even to the extent that they can see we are in the writing center and they are at home, and we can see their kids in the background and hear them, in their regular life,” Lawrence said. Online Writing Center tutor, Brittany
Walker, said she enjoys tutoring because of how good it makes her feel to help others. “I gave a student a few suggestions and a light bulb went on in her mind and she said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can do that. That makes a lot of sense,’” Walker said. Even though it is not all easy, tutors give their best efforts to those receiving help. “Some students are more open than others. For those who aren’t, pinpointing those things they are struggling with is difficult. We are willing to work through those things and help people in any way that we can,” Walker said. At the Academic Support Center, student tutors use their discretion on how to best meet the needs of students they tutor. For student tutor, Rebecca Snelgrove, meeting the needs of students involves inviting the Spirit in the learning process. “I felt prompted from the time I first started tutoring that I would start every tutoring session with a prayer. That is one way I feel I am living the spirit of Ricks here.” Snelgrove said. “The students that come to me say they feel a difference in our sessions because they feel more calm, confident and ready. They feel the Spirit as we study.” A main goal of the Tutoring Center is to incite within the students a deeper learning of the subjects. It is imperative, that today more than ever, students become self-reliant in their learning. CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
DEVOTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
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Students are instructed in a Food Science lab, one of the 18 labs housed in the STC.
Continued from page 1: Science and Technology Center the opportunity to get hands-on experience.” said Steve Winkel, a Food Science faculty member. Not only is the building’s facilities giving students real-world experience, it is also being utilized as a place to gather Zion. “There are twelve wards that meet here,
six at a time. So that provides a complete stake to be serviced,” Grimmett said. Grimett says the faculty and students are already expressing appreciation for the way the building is improving their educational experience.
The Science and Technology Center features a number of open study areas that let in a lot of natural light.
“This is my favorite building on campus, by far,” said Schoenrock. “Whenever I come here, I’m a little more focused. It’s really good to know that we’re still being taken care of and watched over like this.” &
Upward Fall 2016 Dare Mighty Things: President Gilbert explains BYU-Idaho’s belief in the potential of the everday student........................................................... A School for Everyone:What kind of students attend BYU-Idaho? These statistics might surprise you......................................................................... A Tradition of Loving Expectations: Teachers show a belief in the potential of their students to achieve more.................................................. Natural Leaders: BYU-Idaho students strive to fulfill President Henry B. Eyring’s description of becoming legendary, natural leaders ................ Defining Influence: Alumni share the impact of their BYU-Idaho education......................................................................................................
Scan here to find Upward’s Fall 2016 issue or visit
byui.edu/upward
Top 12 Photos from Spring Semester: Experience the highlights from Spring Semester 2016 .................................................................................
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David O. McKay Library redesigns website This semester, the David O. McKay Library launched the final phase of its new website, finishing a project that creates a more user-friendly experience for students and faculty. “It was just time to make the website more fresh and have a little different organization,” said Shane Cole, BYUIdaho’s associate university librarian. “We are always making efforts to improve our website so that a student can come there and find the things they need.” With the website’s emphasis on electronic resources, information has become more readily available to students. “When I arrived in 2000, every resource that we offered in terms of electronic resources could fit on one left hand menu column. Now it is in the hundreds of resources, databases, and websites that we subscribe to for students,” Cole said. “The print collection in the library is actually smaller than it was when I got here in 2000, but the digital collection has grown exponentially.”
“It was just time to make the website more fresh and have a little different organization.” —SHANE COLE, ASSOCIATE UNIVERSIT Y LIBRARIAN
The new website makes the most popular resources more visible and easier for the user to find.
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Cole and his team hope the new website will make resources easier to find for students and faculty. &
“We really limited the number of databases that are displayed on the homepage and are now using the space to help students start their research and we’ve made it more obvious how to contact a librarian if you need help,” said Jon Fackrell, BYU-Idaho’s web service librarian. Fackrell led the committee that was responsible for sifting through suggestions and approving design changes to the new website. To meet user’s needs, the committee relied on past experience to create a user-friendly layout that emphasizes the most popular features.
The new library website makes it eaiser for students to find the most important resources.
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“When we redesigned our webpage many years ago, we spent weeks and months doing usability tests on students. This time, we didn’t spend as much time doing tests, we just used some of the experience we have gained over years,” Cole said.
Visit the new library webiste by scanning this QR code or visiting library.byui.edu
Continued from page 4: Academic Support Center “One of the things we try to do in the Tutoring Center is encouraging our tutors to be an advocate of the Learning Model in helping the students know what it means to prepare.” said Trulee Ann Stocking, Tutoring Center coordinator. “Our tutors do a really good job of helping our students understand what that preparation is. That’s one way I see all of them becoming discipleleaders is helping them understand how that preparation benefits them.”
Students will learn to accomplish more than before through effective and diligent assistance from qualified tutors. Snelgrove says they will be more efficient in their study sessions when the students come ready to teach what they understand and learn what they do not. “Preparation becomes accountability which becomes maturity. They will learn to take it upon themselves to do hard things,” Snelgrove said.
Volunteer Hours at the Academic Support Center
Stocking said they see many accomplished students fully participate in tutoring sessions. She attributes their success to the students’ belief in the importance of receiving help. “We have students who are straight ‘A’ students. We serve the students who are struggling, but it’s amazing to me the number of students who have straight A’s who come to the Tutoring Center because they know how valuable the experience is here,” Stocking said. &
Number of Academic Support Center Volunteers 710
17040
7344
2013
9024
2014
376
306
2015
2013
2014
2015
The number of volunteers and hours worked at the Academic Support Center increased by 132 percent from 2013 to 2015.
New foundations course covers Latin America Students are taking advantage of a foundations course on Latin America offered for the first time this fall semester. Like foundation courses taught on China and Pakistan, Latin America Focus: Chile and Cuba, has been crafted to cultivate awareness of the world. Department of Language and International Studies faculty members Steve Hunsaker and Matt Alba, as well as Associate Dean of Foundations Fernando Castro, have been working closely together to make sure this course runs smoothly and achieves its objectives. “We’ve worked hard to design the curriculum to help prepare students by giving them the learning tools they will need here,” Alba said. The main difference between this course and other foundation courses involving countries of interest is that instead of studying only one country, two countries are paired together in one curriculum.
“We are better able to see and understand “We are trying to equip students with something when we compare and contrast tools and the mindsets necessary it with something else. We will focus on to understanding foreign cultures,” comparing and contrasting Cuba and Chile, Hunsaker said. “There are fascinating two samples of Latin America, as a way histories of dictators, overthrows, to understand the region,” Hunsaker said. revolutionary periods; and the more we look at it, the more interesting points of comparison we find.”
“We want [students] to be engaged citizens and critical thinkers. This course will help them evaluate what they hear and read.” —FERNANDO CASTRO, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF FOUNDATIONS
The Latin America course will strive to help students become culturally aware. It will improve their power to engage effectively with other cultures and people.
Speaking specifically to outcomes of the class, Castro mentioned they want to help students to have a sense of responsibility to understand how to be an influential individual in the world. “We want them to be engaged citizens and critical thinkers. This course will help them evaluate what they hear and read,” Castro said. Students enrolled in this course will expand their ability to analyze and contribute to the world by looking through the multiple lenses presented in the Latin America foundations course. &
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P2B encourages students to start where they are Guest presenters and conference organizers for Power to Become (P2B) are eager to help inspire students to believe in themselves and take action. “We want it to be more than an exciting event to attend, because that will wear off,” said Jason Reeder, P2B marketing coordinator. “We want attendees to be able to walk away feeling like they have action items to take with them.” There are several events and programs on campus designed to help students understand how to step into the professional world. For those students who may be struggling to learn what path they want to take, P2B is designed to help them, too. BYU-Idaho alum, Suzette Stewart Coates is the founder and executive director of Camp Journey and Everyday Students and will be one of the speakers for the upcoming conference. She says she hopes to give the students reassurance and direction on finding what they love and want to become. “The students need to know that we were students just like them,” said Coates. “We left BYU-Idaho and found our path, and they can too.” The goal for the conference is to emphasize principles that students can act on in order to help them discover their passion, tell their story and network effectively. The minds
behind this program have worked hard to choose speakers and activities that can teach this effectively.
not be considered successful, but add tremendous value where they serve.”
Reeder and other P2B organizers hope “P2B exists to help develop and prepare faculty and employees encourage students for the next steps in their their students to attend so they can lives,” Reeder said. “As faculty and take advantage of the professional administration/staff, it is important that networking opportunities. we encourage students to get involved and take advantage of these incredible campus “P2B is a unique, powerful, entertaining resources during their time at BYU-Idaho.” and engaging professional development experience,” Reeder said. “There is Conference speakers will include several nothing else like it that happens here.” & BYU-Idaho alumni, a bestselling author, multiple CEOs, and President Clark G. For information Gilbert. Though their titles are admirable, about P2B and Reeder says its not what will make their to buy tickets, words important for the students to hear. scan this QR code or visit “We bring in people with extensive and byui.edu/p2b impressive professional experience,” Reeder said. “But we also bring in people who, from the world’s standards might
Speakers at P2B include: Richie Norton, CEO and founder of Global Consulting Circle and bestselling author
Brian Haynie, CEO of Topo Financial and adjunct BYU-Idaho faculty member
Al Fox Carraway, well-known LDS author, speaker, and blogger
Tim Ng, BYU-Idaho alum and employee at Google
Clark Gilbert, BYU-Idaho President and former CEO of Deseret Digital Media
Suzette Stewart Coates, BYU-Idaho alum and Executive Director for Camp Journey and Everyday Opportunities
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