Ariel Chaffin | University Relations |25 January 2013

The McKay Foyer overflowed with students, professors, faculty, and Rotarians including Chet Dal Santo, district governor of the Rotary Club 5000, and Susan Case, Rotary Club of Honolulu President, as the BYU–Hawaii Rotaract Club held its first official meeting. 

Rotary was founded in 1905 to connect professionals, soon the purpose expanded to serving the local community and is now on the global level. Today there are more than 1.2 million members striving for the elimination of polio, and promoting peace worldwide.

A handful of students have supported the Honolulu Chapter for more than a year, attending club meetings and participating in their service projects. Aaron Ng’ambi, president of the new BYU–Hawaii Rotaract Chapter, and his presidency have established a chapter on campus so that more students can be involved with the vision of Rotary.

Stephany France | University Relations |24 January 2013

In appreciation of BYU–Hawaii’s blood contributions, Aaron Knapp, the director of donor services at Blood Bank Hawaii, presented the members of the service team and the Director of Student Leadership, Activities and Service David Lucero with an Award of Excellence. 

“A quarter of the blood that sits on our shelves in the hospitals comes from BYU–Hawaii. That means one-fourth of all Hawaii’s blood supply comes from right here on this campus. That’s huge, and we thank you” said Knapp. The plaque is dedicated to the BYU–Hawaii Student Association (BYUHSA) and reads, “from January 2008 to August 2012, BYU–Hawaii Student Association hosted 43 blood drives and recruited donors who gave 2,015 pumps of blood. Because of their dedication, 6,045 lives were saved.”

Rachel Romney | University Relations | 15 January 2013

“Living by faith is not living blindly, but living in such a way to experience and know what is real.  The knowledge gained by exercising faith is not abstract and impersonal, but experiential and lived knowledge.”  This was the message shared by Sister Jennifer Lane, Associate Academic Vice President for Curriculum, concerning living a life that is bound to faith and knowledge in her Devotional address, “Faith in the Redemption,” on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. 

Nicia Sanelli | University Relations |11 January 2013

Effective this semester (Winter 2013) there has been a split in the Fine Arts department. It is now divided into two separate departments: Visual Arts, and Music and Theater.

With this change came a new chair for the Visual Arts department, Brandon Truscott. Truscott remarked that the “main reason for the split was the demand for a Visual Arts major. Results are yet to be determined, but the specific certificates that are now offered within the major provide a more focused perspective.”

Michael Johanson | University Relations | 26 December 2012

When a construction project reaches its highest building point, the milestone is often commemorated with a ceremonial ‘topping’ or ‘capping’ of the building. BYU–Hawaii’s new multi-use building reached this point in December and celebrated the milestone with students, faculty, staff, contractors and community members on Thursday, December 13, 2012. 

Joe Hadfield | 20 December 2012

Someday, Oahu’s Koolau and Waianae mountains will be reduced to nothing more than a flat, low-lying island like Midway.

But erosion isn’t the biggest culprit. Instead, scientists say, the mountains of Oahu are actually dissolving from within.

“We tried to figure out how fast the island is going away and what the influence of climate is on that rate,” said Brigham Young University geologist Steve Nelson. “More material is dissolving from those islands than what is being carried off through erosion.”

Ariel Chaffin | University Relations |14 December 2012

On Tuesday, December 11, nine students studying Finance presented to fellow students and community members on market trends and their investment projections. Splitting the presentations into different segments, they addressed what is happening on the world level, and more specifically in Europe, North America, Indonesia, China, and Australian markets, as well as what is currently happening in the banking and financial, communication, entertainment, and technology sectors.

The students have been preparing their material for months, and starting next semester, they will hold monthly presentations for interested parties. For the audience, the purpose of the presentations is to help those who would like help identifying investible ideas. Even those who already invest can benefit from the presentations as they present portfolio-building ideas.

Nicia Sanelli | University Relations | 12 December 2012

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will address more than 270 BYU–Hawaii graduates who will be participating in commencement on Saturday, December 15, 2012. The exercises will begin at 9:30 AM in the Cannon Activities Center. 

The student speaker at Commencement will be Mark Levi, from Kingston, Washington, who will be graduating with a degree in biological sciences. Levi is in the top 10 percent of his class.