Bulletin for January 27 to February 2, 2012
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| BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson |
Upcoming Provo Rotary Luncheon Meetings and Events
February 2: Matthew H. Connors, CPA, Senior Manager at the Salt Lake City based forensic accounting firm Rocky Mountain Advisory. Topic: Avoiding Ponzi Schemes.
February 9: Judge Kay A. Lindsay, Judge of the Juvenile Court for the Fourth Judicial District, serving Wasatch, Utah, Juab and Millard Counties.
February 16: Gordon D. Brown, President, Provo Missionary Training Center: The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
February 23: Clark G. Gilbert, President and CEO of Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, Salt Lake City.
Report of the Weekly Luncheon Meeting held January 26, 2012
Today's meeting was held at Riverside Country Club. President-elect Vaughn Park conducted. Ron Roberts played dinner music and accompanied the singing of the Anthem. Jill Moon lead the singing and the Pledge.
Guests: Chief Rick Gregory introduced his guest, Capt. Jerry Harper of the Provo Police Department. Jeff Mathews introduced his guest Gil Bertelson. Jill Moon introduced her associate Jill Hatch of the law firm of Flickinger and Sutterfield. Tom Powell introduced David Pack, new Council Executive of the Utah National Parks Council, BSA.
Andy Anderson distributed UVU basketball game tickets to anyone who wanted them.
Chief Rick Gregory was awarded the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship by President-elect Vaughn Park.
Ruth Riley served as sergeant today assisted ably by swami Greg Hudnall.
Dr. Vic Ludlow introduced today speaker, President Cecil O. Samuelson, MD of BYU. President Samuelson has served as BYU president for nine years and quipped that when he was assigned to this position President Gordon B. Hinckley (LDS Church) told him not to sell his home in Salt Lake because this BYU assignment wouldn't last long. Well, President Hickley isn't there any more...
He said this is a nice season of time for BYU. Several new buildings have either recently been completed or are in some stage of construction:
New Heritage Halls apartments replace the former Deseret Towers (circa 1964)
Heritage Halls (circa 1956) are gradually being removed and will be replaced
A new life sciences is under construction with 250 car underground parking
New utility towers now cover the campus
A new broadcast building was recently completed
A new engineering building is planned
BYU will continue its mission as primarily an undergraduate university. Because of high demand, minimum entrance requirements continue to climb. Many current faculty members admit they probably wouldn't qualify for admission under today's standards.
BYU is known for being among the top ten universities in the country whose students go on to earn doctoral degrees.
BYU produces more dentists than any other US university.
The mission of the BYU Bookstore is changing dramatically. It has been operating under a non-sustainable model for several years. Students now purchase textbooks on the Internet or as e-books.
BYU will not be making new parking lots. In fact there is an active effort to keep cars off campus. With only 550 acres of space, there is no room to expand parking. Students are encouraged to live within walking distance of campus or to use public transportation.
BYU's recent athletic affiliation with the West Coast Conference was not an accident. BYU is more academically aligned with the schools in the WCC than with any other NCAA conference. The average ACT scores of new freshment in the WCC is 28+. BYU's current requirement for admission is a minimum ACT score of 28. All but two schools in the WCC are religiously affiliated.
Despite the high profile of BYU athletic teams, President Samuelson emphasized that the athletic programs only exists to support the University's undergraduate academic mission.
