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BYU-Hawaii Announces Change in Academic Leadership

Brigham Young University–Hawaii announced today a change in its academic leadership. Effective at the conclusion of Winter Semester 2008, Vice President for Academics Keith J. Roberts will complete his current assignment. Brigham Young University - Idaho Academic Vice President Max L. Checketts will leave BYU–Idaho to serve in the same capacity at BYU–Hawaii, replacing Roberts. An announcement regarding Checketts’ replacement at BYU–Idaho will be made in mid-March.

Roberts, a professor of mathematics, has served as vice president for academics at BYU-Hawaii since January 2000.  He originally came to the university in 1991 to establish the office of institutional research and has also held the position of Assistant to the President.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh with majors in both mathematics and history.  He holds a masters and doctorate from Marquette University and is the coauthor of several mathematics textbooks.

He has been instrumental in raising the visibility prestige of the university internationally as well as locally.  During his tenure US News ranked BYU-Hawaii as a top tier university for eight consecutive years.  He has supported the faculty in creating curricular reforms that have improved both the efficiency and quality of the academic programs.  A strong advocate of cultural diversity, he is chair of the Pacific Institute Board of fellows.  As a founding member of Empower Oahu he has served the community and represented the university’s interests on various local boards.

In addition to membership on various professional boards and committees he is a standing member of the WASC Eligibility Review Panel and has also served as Assistant Chair of WASC Accreditation teams in California and Guam. 

Checketts, named academic vice president at BYU–Idaho in July 2002, had previously served as assistant academic vice president for Instruction and as chairman of the Division of Agriculture. He joined the institution in 1982 to establish a new dairy program.

He holds a doctorate from Utah State University in animal science with a doctoral minor in statistics. He has been an accreditation evaluator for the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges for the past nine years, serving as a member and chair on various visits making evaluations in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Nevada. Checketts has also served as the chair of the Church Educational System Internship Committee, a member of the Church Educational Shared Services Committee, and a school district board member.

The BYU–Hawaii community expresses sincere appreciation to Dr. Roberts for his many years of distinguished service and dedicated leadership and sends him our warm “aloha ola loa” (greeting for long life).