Mike Foley | University Advancement | 8 February 2008
BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright resumed his open-invitation President's Council question-and-answer forum on February 6 in the Little Theater. He covered a wide range of topics, including the recent announcement of a new academic vice president, speaking more English, blind grading, changes in the IWES program, and on-campus OPTs [optional practical training for graduates].
In reference to the announcement that BYU-Idaho Academic Vice President Max L. Checketts will replace BYUH Vice President for Academics Keith J. Roberts at the end of Winter Semester, President Wheelwright said, "Obviously, Keith has done a wonderful job. He's done many great things." He pointed to Roberts' most recent efforts with changes in the 2009 school calendar. With other changes going on in the university, Wheelwright said the timing seemed appropriate to make a change in academic leadership and the Board of Trustees ratified the choice of Checketts.
President Wheelwright added of Checketts: "All of you will like Max. He's not coming to do what he did at Idaho. He's coming to be a part of this team." He also spoke of Checketts' strong qualifications: "Since he's been academic vice president there, they've grown from about 5,500 students to 22,000 students."
President Wheelwright started the meeting out with a question on speaking English in both classrooms and work areas. "Our long-term goal is that students come better prepared with English so they can do their college-level courses right from day one, and then their English needs to get stronger and stronger," he said. "That requires we need to encourage them, to help them, even if they have a supervisor who speaks their language. Let's help them understand English."
A related question went to "compassion bias in many of our classes, where teachers will cut English as a second language speakers some slack as they grade papers. One of the solutions that's been proposed is blind grading" — that is, a teacher is not aware of the name of the student whose paper he's grading.
"I don't think we should have a dual standard," replied President Wheelwright, who said blind grading was the norm in his Harvard experience. "We should help students who are non-native English speakers. My own inclination, and I've had many international students, would be to spend a little more time with them, set the expectations, and perhaps give them an additional opportunity or two so that by the time they get to an exam they're better able to write and answer questions."
Asked about changes in the International Work Experience Scholarship program, President Wheelwright pointed out an IWES committee is reviewing all its aspects. "Over the last year, we've tried to do a couple of things. One is, we've simplified it, because there were too many ‘flavors' of IWES that made it very difficult to administer."
"We spend a significant fraction of our scholarships on that group of students. Over time, we're trying to create more donor funds in order to give more students more scholarships, because it isn't just 500 students that need the support... That means we need to make sure people are following a consistent set of policies."
Isileli Kongaika, Vice President of Student Affairs, added that single IWES students are only allowed to accept up to $1,200 in additional scholarship funds — $1,700 for married students — before impacting the original agreement.
"For a single IWES student, the first additional $1,200 goes to the part that he's responsible for. Anything over that goes to IWES, which we're grateful for, and reduces the amount of the IWES grant," President Wheelwright clarified.
Questioning the value of international students spending an additional OPT year on campus after graduation, Director of Career Services Kimbrelyn Austin emphasized potential employers consistently tell her they equate the practice with "there's something wrong with our candidates. Why couldn't they get a real job? I agree with them: I don't think we're doing them any favors."
Some of the other questions included:
- Why is birth control not included in student insurance? President Wheelwright responded that's up to Deseret Mutual Benefit Association (DMBA), but added he'll look into it.
- Should a donor give to IWES or the Church's Perpetual Education Fund (PEF)? The president explained PEF funds "are for people not going to a CES school."
- What happens to teacher evaluations? Keith Roberts answered that the deans review evaluations with their respective faculty. "There's going to be a new instrument; I think we're testing it this semester," he said. "The faculty actually get to see those, and many use those to improve their teaching," added accounting professor Kevin Kimball.
- Why are student wages not based on job skills and qualifications? President Wheelwright responded that a committee is developing new student employee standards that will address this question, including pay rates. "It's not going to be an open market system, in that sense," he added. "Our goal is to actually upgrade the student jobs... We want our students, when they leave here, to have actually had the experience that will make them valued employees, who know how to get a job, and know how to lead a team in a job setting."
The president's next question-and-answer forum is scheduled on Thursday, March 6, at 7 a.m. in the Little Theater.
:: To submit a question online
:: For the compilation of previous questions and answers