The Brigham Young University-Hawaii President's Council held their monthly Question and Answer Forum in the Little Theater on April 9, to answer submitted questions about housing, the new schedule, J-1 visa, the BYUH mission statement, online degrees, the Art department, Health Center hours, school colors, the Testing Center, Student and University Bulletin e-mails, faculty housing, and improving the quality of education.
When asked about why campus housing remained the same price this semester, which was two weeks shorter, President Wheelwright answered, "The Fall 2008 Semester [was] a total of 118 days," ending in the middle of December 2008, and the Winter Semester began from there and ended with "a total of 119 days"; the two semesters were nearly the same length. President Wheelwright responded to a question about housing rebate for spring and summer terms: "In the spring and summer terms there will be a reduction and will come as a rebate." Lorraine Matagi, Assistant Director of Housing, noted that spring rebates have already gone out.
Another question addressed what was being done with the new schedule to help students with demanding majors that required more homework and lab work. Max Checketts, Vice-President for Academics replied, "One of the biggest conversations that we keep going to is [repacing] because when you go from semesters to terms, you're creating a different pace." Deans, department chairs, and faculty were encouraged to work together and discuss the pros and cons of the new calendar; some faculty have found the extra ten minutes of class time beneficial. "If you'll be patient with us, we'll … get those things working in a way that will enhance the learning of the students," said Checketts.
Matagi vocalized the drastic drop in housing numbers for the spring and summer terms. Checketts noted after viewing enrollment numbers yesterday that fall looked good and a number of beginning summer students were shifted to first term with a hope that it will build; summer session programs have been done away with. President Wheelwright added that last year the Board decided to not have summer visiting students; they knew that it would create challenges but felt committed to getting students going three semesters a year, and this was the transition year. They understood that classes will not initially be full but are prepared to cover that until over time they get more students here during spring term.
An audience member noted that repacing wasn't the problem—it was finals week; the bottle-necking at the Testing Center meant "we're now having super-concentrated finals." Checketts replied that this was a concern from the start that seemed to be resurfacing. They're working on a three-day test period where students take a maximum of three tests per day, which is a focus for the fall calendar rather than the terms.
Two questions centered on the J-1 visa immigration procedures: How does the school work together with the Immigration to ensure returned missionaries get J-1 and non-returned missionaries get the F-1 visa? [and] Who ensures that only returned missionaries receive the J-1 visas—some non-returned missionaries here on J-1 visas claim they can't serve missions because of their status? Lupe Piena, Director of International Student Services, stated that the school's interest to ensure student returnability to their home countries has spawned discussion about the direction of the J-1 and F visa. The current admission criteria for students admitted on ILDS, IWORK , or IWES , or the PCC Executive Management Program on the J visa, and sponsored students on the F visa.
- Students admitted under the IWORK program on the J-1 visa can serve a mission, but not in the United States. Students that have completed the program here under the J-1 visa status must return and remain in their home country for a two year minimum before applying to return on a different visa status; this requirement is noted on the student's visa and DS-2019 (what is issued to inform embassy that student has been accepted into the J-1 student program). Students subject to this requirement cannot change their missionary visa status to serve in the United States; they return and serve in their home country or anywhere outside the U.S. This fits BYUH's goal to have students serve in their home country.
- Returned missionaries can reapply to return to BYUH because requirements have been met. Return under the IWORK program with our current criteria means readmittance under J, and other financial support is valid under F.
An audience member wanted clarification, stating, "You're going to disallow somebody to serve in the U.S.? Aren't the options for serving a mission usually dictated by General Authorities and inspiration?"
Piena stated that the J-1 visa is under the ‘Visitor Exchange' program; stipulations require that before visa status can change, students must return home for a two-year minimum and this allows us as the sponsoring institution to bring in students specifically for cultural, educational exchange, which fits in with our returnability goals. As a sponsoring institution, we have more leverage to hold students we fund accountable.
President Wheelwright added that the Missionary Department is comfortable with our current policy because the Area Presidents want us to bring young men after their mission, not before, which is the direction we're moving in. Piena noted that students on an F-1 visa that may be eligible to serve in the U.S. prompt a call from the travel office about whether the student goes directly from BYUH or from their home country. These factors weigh in to the decision making for mission calls.
A question was asked about why has this school, with a mission statement to ‘extend blessings of learning to members of the Church, particularly Asia and the Pacific,' reduced the number of Asian and increased American students. President Wheelwright replied, "We're not trying to reduce the number of Asian or South Pacific students; we're trying to increase them"; despite yearly fluctuations, the Church has asked that all seats be filled and qualifications be met, but BYUH's first priority is always the Pacific and Asia, and that BYU-Hawaii will always need a native English-speaking core to work with non-native English-speaking students.
A question about online degrees from a prior Q & A session asked when the online degree program was set to begin and where more information could be offered. Checketts answered, "It has already begun. We will allow people to take courses that are online credit from other institutions and transfer those in and count those toward the degree." The previous Q & A question about online degrees referred to catalog courses soon to be available online to help students finish their degrees. Not all courses would be available but general education and select areas are being looked at; students would need to work with advisors about curriculum and planning.
A related question from the audience asked if individuals needed to contact someone in order to create an academic plan that they could finish their degree with. Checketts answered, "Yes"; we're working on teaming up with our sister institutions, BYU-Provo and BYU-Idaho, to have students pay for courses here and take courses there, and then we simply transfer the money to them. To do those kinds of things, we have to make sure we have a good map. … We're excited but we need to plan appropriately."
The next question was about a rumor that the Fine Arts department would be closing, and if so, would classes and degrees be updated to include graphic design or motion graphics? Checketts responded, "There has been no decision made, nor any real direction to say we're eliminating Fine Arts … because we see art as part of our general education mission." He noted that graphic arts has surfaced as something BYU-Hawaii should be working on, and a movement in that direction would naturally begin these assumptions.
President Wheelwright responded to the possibility of having the Health Center hour include Saturdays: "Our policy on hours is that we will expand and contract depending on demand. If we can support it, we'll do it, but with no demand, we cannot. He noted that we're looking at performance metrics for each of our areas to survey what people really need and make sure we're evaluating our quality in an appropriate way.
A question about school color inconsistencies was addressed by Michael Johanson, Director of Communications and Marketing. Johanson stated, "We have several versions of red or crimson as it is officially called around campus. Our official color is 201, and we have an identity guide available on a new Web site , our communications hub, and as we publicize that, you'll be able to use that." He encouraged those building Web sites or creating collateral material for different departments to defer to that page to keep a consistent look and feel.
The next question was about how Testing Center policies kept student workers from having an unfair advantage of seeing a test before they take it. President Wheelwright noted, "That is definitely something we have clear policies on. One of our policies is that we do not allow any student employee to look at, prepare, or distribute a test until after they've taken it, that is if they happen to be in that class." Things are kept locked and security measures ensure that tests are protected, and two employees are always on duty at the Testing Center.
Asked if the current system Student and University Bulletin e-mails would change in order to notify recipients of events prior to the day it would take place, President Wheelwright replied that Michael Johanson has been working on a strategy to ensure higher standards on our communication efforts. A follow-up question from an audience member asked why Student and University Bulletins couldn't be combined to lessen the amount of daily e-mails sent out. Johanson said that a short-term solution was the use of the mybyuh page , and a long term solution was currently in the works.
A question was asked about the status of the plan to allow faculty to purchase a lease on the homes they now rent, and what was the status for the Townhouses and Moana Street. President Wheelwright replied that one of the stalls stemmed from the original building of the Townhouses; the builders didn't follow original plans. The First Presidency agreed to several options, which included selling the Townhouses; the hope was to get mortgage assistance programs for qualifying faculty and staff. No decision was yet made on selling Moana Street houses.
The final question, I would like a baseline measurement to know where we are now in order to evaluate our progress as we climb, was answered by Checketts: "We're working at the academic and President's Council level to come up with some kind of metric to monitor over time to see how we're doing." They have been continuing a culture of assessment and have been refining the process.
--Photo by Cooper Johnson
:: The next President's Council Q&A Forum will be held Wednesday, May 6, 2009, from 5-6 p.m. in the Little Theater.
:: Queries may be submitted by e-mail to presidentsqanda@byuh.edu