Mormon Life - BYU-Idaho tag

Bill Cosby to perform a second night at BYU-Idaho

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:39:00 -0600

source: MormonTimes.com

Bill Cosby will now perform two shows during his visit to Brigham Young University-Idaho in Juneon Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium. Tickets will go on sale Monday, May 7, at 8:15 a.m.

BYU-Idaho: 'Face the future with optimism'

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:45:00 -0600

source: ldschurchnews.com

"Replace fear with faith," Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve counseled BYU-Idaho's graduating class during commencement exercises April 6.

"As you think about your future, you should be filled with faith and hope," he told the graduates gathered in the BYU-Idaho Center on the university's Rexburg campus. "Always remember that Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, the architect of our salvation, and the head of this Church, is in control. He will not permit His work to fail. He will be victorious over all darkness and evil. And He invites us all, members of His Church and others who are the honest in heart, to join in the battle for the souls of men."

Mormon Media Observer: Enough with the Mormon stereotypes

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:12:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: The author suggests the misinformed media who post snarky things about Mormons "Get to know us where we live. Get to know our young people. I say: Come with me to Rexburg." Each week, it seems that someone in the mainstream press writes something about the church that is annoying or hurtful or misinformed or lazy.

Recently, there were the snarky tweets about LDS beliefs from an editor at Salon.com and a columnist at the New York Times — both of whom eventually apologized.

Then there is a blog post by a baptized, but not practicing, Latter-day Saint, in GQ magazine online that’s too cute by half. The article is filled with stereotypes — hurtful and otherwise — of Latter-day Saints, of Southerners and of Evangelical Christians.

First-edition Book of Mormon on display at BYU-Idaho

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:48:00 -0700

source: idahostatejournal.com

The Brigham Young University-Idaho David O. McKay Library recently added a first-edition copy of The Book of Mormon to its collection.

President Kim B. Clark accepted the book over a year ago, but after undergoing an extensive restoration process at the Church History Library, it is now on display in the Special Collections’ Press Room.

Elder Cook charges young single adults to build the kingdom

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:22:00 -0700

source: news.lds.org

While serving his mission to Scotland in the late 1890s, then Elder David O. McKay (who served as Church President between 1951 and 1970) and his companion passed a building where the stone above the door was inscribed with a quotation usually attributed to Shakespeare: “What e’er thou art, act well thy part.”

Recalling this experience while giving a talk in 1957, President McKay said he thought to himself, “You are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More than that, you are here as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. … Then I thought [about] what we had done that afternoon. We had been sightseeing, we had gained historical instruction and information, it is true, and I was thrilled with it. … However, that was not missionary work. … I accepted the message given to me on that stone, and from that moment we tried to do our part as missionaries in Scotland” (“Lesson 29: David O. McKay—Worldwide Ambassador of God,” The Presidents of the Church: Teacher’s Manual, [1996]).

BYU Idaho tuition increases planned for 2012-2013

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:08:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Brigham Young University-Idaho has approved a 2.88 percent ($50) tuition increase for the 2012-2013 school year, which will take effect this fall.

Elder Perry: The Church is scaffolding for lives

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:58:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

The Church is the scaffolding for individuals and families as they engage the most important building projects of their lives, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve told students during a campus devotional at Brigham Young University-Idaho on Jan. 24. Elder Perry addressed the students in the BYU-Idaho Center on the university's campus in Rexburg.

"I would like to issue a challenge to you — the future graduates of BYU-Idaho," he said. "Prepare yourselves now to take advantage of the significant opportunities the new year will bring to all members of the Church. Demonstrate by what you say and the way you live the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Exemplify a Latter-day Saint, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ."

BYU-Idaho winter semester enrollment largest on record

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:17:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Statistics released for winter semester 2012 show a total enrollment of 14,937 students, a 5.9 percent increase over last winter.

Elder Quentin L. Cook Speaks at BYU–Idaho Commencement

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:06:00 -0700

source: news.lds.org

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles addressed 1,533 graduates at Brigham Young University–Idaho’s fall commencement on December 16, 2011.

Originating from the BYU–Idaho Center at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, graduation addresses from Elder Cook and Roger Christensen, assistant to the Church Educational System commissioner, focused on post-graduation experiences.

BYU-Idaho to ban skinny jeans?

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:11:00 -0700

source: abcnews.com

Mormon Life says: Today, BYU-I released this statement: Wondering if skinny jeans are allowed on campus? They are. BYU-Idaho's longstanding dress & grooming standards promote principles of modesty and restrict formfitting clothing, but skinny jeans are not singled out or prohibited. In addition, the Testing Center issue reported in Scroll has been corrected and is no longer in force.

Some at Brigham Young University-Idaho, a Mormon school, say skinny jeans are too risqué for campus wear: students wearing the hip-hugging pants have recently been refused service at the school’s Test Center.

The department posted a sign that read “No Skinny Jeans,” and turned away several students who were wearing tight-fitting pants last week.

Elder Claudio Daniel Zivic: 'Success has a price'

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:18:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Perseverance is the key to success, Elder Claudio Daniel Zivic of the Seventy said during a campus devotional held in the Brigham Young University-Idaho Center in Rexburg, on Nov. 15.

"To persevere means to maintain the ability to endure, to carry on, to continue in the same state without weakening or perishing," he said. "It is being able to go on in the face of pain, oppression, discouragement or suffering, without being defeated."

Enrollment nearly doubles in 10 years at BYU-Idaho

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:17:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

On June 21, 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley made an announcement that would change the lives of thousands of students.

"The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Board of Trustees of Ricks College announce that Ricks College will change from its present two-year junior college status to a four-year institution."

BYU-Idaho: Leading by innovation

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:44:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: Last part in a three-part series. Betty Oldham has seen her fair share of changes at BYU-Idaho.

She came to this campus in Rexburg as a student in the late '60s and she's amazed to see how much it's changed.

Now the assistant to the president, she recalls that 40 years ago all her main classes were in one building. There was only one grocery store in town and none of the students had cars.

Today, Oldham has bright blue eyes, bronze-rimmed, oval glasses and curly white and gray hair. She's still as pretty as she was in the 60s, but she has something she didn't have then — perspective.

From wheat field to innovator: how BYU-Idaho is changing the landscape of higher education

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:39:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

J.D. Griffith walked off the subway and onto the bustling streets of midtown Manhattan. It was an April evening, cold and rainy, and he was a long way from home.

As he stepped into a church on Columbus Avenue, the din of the city — the honking cabs, the clattering of trains underground, the screech of brake lines on city buses — receded into silence.

Griffith had come to a special meeting at the LDS chapel with an unusual message. BYU-Idaho, the LDS Church's second largest university, was expanding its reach to students who had never considered college a real option.

BYU-I puts first-edition King James Bible on display

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:27:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

A first-edition copy of the King James Bible is on display at Brigham Young University-Idaho’s David O. McKay Library through December. The exhibit, which includes other original texts like Bibles and papyrus fragments, celebrates the book’s 400th anniversary.

An open house will be held June 23 and 24, from noon to 6 p.m., on the second floor of the library.

Elder Hallstrom speaks at BYU-Idaho devotional

Sat, 14 May 2011 10:19:00 -0600

source: ldschurchnews.com

Keeping earthly covenants leads individuals to keep eternal covenants, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy said during a BYU-Idaho devotional held on May 10.

"If we understand and believe the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the role of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in helping us achieve the glorious plan of God, then our priorities become clearer," Elder Hallstrom told the gathering assembled in the BYU-Idaho Center.

It is through focussing on the things that "matter most" that individuals will be able to understand their eternal purposes — despite the views of the world. As they relentlessly study the doctrine and exercise faith in the Savior, they are more able to remember who they really are, Elder Hallstrom said.

Record number of BYU-Idaho graduates

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:12:00 -0600

source: ldschurchnews.com

After another record-breaking number of graduates on April 9, BYU-Idaho continues to grow and develop as more and more students attend and graduate from the four-year university. During the commencement exercises, held in the BYU-Idaho Center on the university's campus in Rexburg, Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy shared with graduates ways to avoid stumbling blocks as they make their way into the world.

"As we contemplate the straight and narrow path that returns to the presence of our Heavenly Father, invariably that path will contain stumbling blocks which can, if ignored, become trials, even crises in our lives," Elder Snow said. "The adversary is very clever and has stumbling blocks in his arsenal we may not even have imagined. Therefore, it is important to be vigilant."

Elder Snow shared four specific stumbling blocks individuals should watch out for.

LDS professor wins poetry contest with 'Night at the Movies'

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:10:00 -0700

by Aaron Olsen
source: ldsliving.com

A lonely night at the movies may not be so bad after all—especially if you get national recognition for writing about it.

Brigham Young University-Idaho professor Michael Tatum was named Idaho Senior Poet Laureate for a collection of 20 poems, the featured title being “Tuesday Night at the Movies.” The poem is written in the voice of a solo individual observing many couples enjoying themselves at a movie theatre. Though simple in scope, the poem touches on how loneliness can take many forms and helps readers feel sympathy for the subject’s situation.

A professor of sociology at BYU-Idaho, 63-year-old Tatum submitted 20 poems in the national Senior Poet Laureate Poetry Competition and was selected as Idaho’s winner. In a university press release, Tatum said his inspiration came when he lived in Micronesia alone for a month and a half. “I was president of the college system there, and my family was already back in the states,” Tatum said. “I would go to the movies once or twice a week. I was alone, and I guess I was lonely.”

Tatum was “humbled by the honor and not expecting an award,” and he “uses daily poetry entries much like a journal.”

Tatum wrote poetry on and off in high school, but started writing regularly when he met his wife. “She has been my inspiration, beyond belief.”

Tatum’s poems cover subjects from romance to shoveling snow. A teacher of 30 years, with some of that time spent in Micronesia as the president of that nation’s college and university system, Tatum draws his poetry from experiences in his life, such as teaching, travel and even sacrament meetings. The professor counted 1500 to 1600 completed poems in his works, with another 400 to 500 still in progress.

“It’s been fun,” Tatum said. “It brings back memories on things I otherwise would have forgotten.”

Tatum’s recent success is a new feeling for him. Throughout the years, he has had about six poems published and placed in anthologies through The Writer’s Almanac newsletter and the accompanying “A Prairie Home Companion” weekend radio show.

His rise to the spotlight came when he saw an ad in the local paper about the Senior Poet Laureate submissions.

“I didn’t think it was a competition. Now there are newspapers calling me and Barnes and Noble has asked me to do a reading in their Idaho Falls store.”

Tatum plans to retire in a few years and said he’ll continue writing. He has plans for publishing a collection of his works and is even beginning a novel in his spare time.

Sponsored by the non-profit organization Amy Kitchener’s Angels Without Wings Foundation, The Senior Poets Laureate Poetry Competition is an annual poetry competition for U.S. citizens 50 years of age or older.

TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Walking home from the movies
On a rainy Tuesday night
Thinking about the movie
A romantic comedy
And how I sat on the back row
All alone
Watching people
Mostly the couples
As they watched the movie
Shared popcorn
Held hands and laughed together
And how all alone
On the back row
I laughed with them
Until I cried

Winter enrollment shows BYU-Idaho continues to expand

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:20:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Enrollment statistics released for Winter Semester 2011 show Brigham Young University-Idaho continues to grow.

According to data from the BYU-Idaho Student Records and Registration Office, the number of full-time students increased by 5.1 percent from last Winter Semester, and total enrollment grew by 5.4 percent. Total enrollment now stands at 14,100 students compared to 13,375 one year ago. In addition, students are taking 13 credit hours on average. The increase comes as a result of an enrollment expansion plan the university began implementing Fall Semester 2010.

BYU-Idaho alters general education

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:02:00 -0700

source: universe.byu.edu

It’s no secret BYU-Idaho is the easiest of the three BYUs to get into; BYU-Idaho has a 97 percent acceptance rate and an incoming grade-point average of 3.4, whereas BYU has a 62 percent acceptance rate and an incoming GPA of 3.8 and BYU-Hawaii has a 64 percent acceptance rate and incoming GPA of 3.6.

Though the three BYUs are different in admissions and location, they share the BYU brand, and until fall semester 2008, they shared similar general education (GE) curriculums. However, when BYU-Idaho remodeled its GE courses, the 10-year-old university set itself apart from the pack and ultimately changed the way students are taught.

When Kim B. Clark, a former Harvard dean, was named BYU-Idaho’s new president in 2005, he brought with him a new GE regime, now called Foundations, which is broken up into five groups: eternal truths, academic fundamentals, science, cultural awareness and connections.