BYU President's Report
BYU scholarship students say thank-you
Ever wondered what happened to that donation you made to scholarships at Brigham Young University?
Donors like you fund scholarships that benefit hundreds of students at BYU each semester, and each student feels a debt of gratitude. These six students are more than anxious to share with you how you changed their lives. View document.
How Giving is Helping BYU News & Features
What makes Brigham Young University special?
By President Cecil O. Samuelson
Visitors from all walks of life come to Brigham Young University daily. Many say they feel something when they come. Often they cannot explain it. They try to put their finger on what they are feeling. They pose all sorts of questions, but in some form most ultimately ask, “What makes Brigham Young University special?”
Of course there is not room here to address every dimension of this important question, but allow me to list a few of the things I see as BYU’s special characteristics.
We believe
One of the many reasons I am grateful we have the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center at the doorway of our campus is that it provides a starting point to speak of our commitment as Christians and Latter-day Saints. We believe in God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the restoration of gospel truth and priesthood authority through the Prophet Joseph Smith—the doctrines by which the human soul is enlarged. We also testify of our status as genuine spiritual daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father.
As a university dedicated to education for eternity, we believe in intensive learning, in stimulating inquiry, in commitment to excellence, and in pursuing the full realization of human potential. From our basic core principles, inextricably connected with our sponsoring Church, comes our commitment. From it derives our university’s central purposes, our values, the way we are funded, why we take seriously the Honor Code, and our deep doctrinal commitment to learn.
Outstanding students, faculty, and staff
Another element of the answer to the question “What makes BYU special?” is our students! Everyone knows that a major secret to any university’s success is the students who choose to attend. BYU students come from all 50 states and more than 100 different nations. More than 2,000 international students attend BYU yearly; 75 percent of BYU students speak a second language.
We are delighted our great students come to BYU for its spiritual environment and Honor Code as well as for our outstanding academics.
Recruiters and BYU students both know the value of a BYU education in terms of long-term and immediately marketable skills and training. This is why 133 of the Fortune 500 companies recruit at BYU, why BYU is one of the top five schools recruited by ExxonMobil in computer science, and why BYU nurses and public school teachers are highly recruited, among many others.
Like our students, our faculty and staff come from almost everywhere and, if they chose, could be virtually anywhere. We are very grateful they are so committed not just to their disciplines but also to the unique mission of BYU.
Learning by study and faith
As we have said before, BYU is an undergraduate teaching and learning institution with some graduate programs of distinction. In this statement we find much that explains BYU’s identity, purpose, and views on how we determine and measure excellence and what we are striving to become.
We seek to be bilingual or multilingual in both the languages of various lands and in the languages of our disciplines while also being competent in the things of the Spirit. We strive to do all of this in order to further the quest and seek to advance the frontiers of new knowledge through all available sources of both insight and inspiration.
These forms of learning “by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118) are complementary. They coordinate faith and intellect. They complement both and compromise neither.
Each week I have the privilege of reviewing recent news coverage of BYU in the print media, especially newspapers, and I think there is never a week that goes by that someone or some group at BYU is not recognized for a significant discovery or contribution. It is not the publicity that is so important, helpful as it may be, but the evidence of the learning that has occurred as new knowledge has been discovered or created.
Becoming our best
BYU will continue to strive to be the best it can be. We will need to be even more careful, more thoughtful, and more courageous in doing more with less, in deciding what we must do less of or eliminate in order to keep this hallowed institution on track to becoming the best it can be.
As good as BYU is—and I believe this university is very good—we have much yet to do to achieve the expectations and promises that exist for us.
A special thanks once again for all you do as we continue our efforts to fulfill the trust given us by our Brigham Young University Board of Trustees, presided over by the First Presidency, to help continue making BYU, and ourselves in the process, the best we can be.
“What makes Brigham Young University special?” is excerpted from President Samuelson’s 2009 Annual University Conference address. Read the entire address online at speeches.byu.edu.
