Brigham Young University

Originally established on October 16, 1875, as the Brigham Young Academy, Brigham Young University was founded on principles of combined spiritual and secular learning. Brigham Young University is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church. BYU is part of a Mormon Church Educational System, which serves more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including students at BYU in Provo, Utah; BYU–Hawaii in Laie, Hawaii; BYU–Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho; and LDS Business College in Salt Lake City, Utah. This education system also serves hundreds of thousands in continuing education and literacy programs, religious seminaries and institutes, and elementary and secondary schools in many countries, including Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Samoa, and Tonga. Brigham Young University provides nationally recognized education in an atmosphere that upholds the moral standards of the Mormon Church, its sponsor. BYU is recognized for extensive language programs, an academically minded and internationally experienced student body, talented performing arts ensembles, outstanding sports programs, quality teaching, and its beautiful mountain location. BYU is also known for being the number-one “stone-cold sober” school in the nation. BYU alumni participation rates in donating to their alma mater far exceed national averages for universities. Donations are handled through LDS Philanthropies including donations of cash and property and online donations. There are nearly 33,000 daytime-attending students during the fall and winter semesters at BYU in Provo. Over four percent are students over age 30, and 1.5% are under age 18. BYU students come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 115 countries. 33% are from the South Pacific, 28% are Latino, 4% are Black, 4% are American Indian, and 31% are other races. (Ethnicity is reported voluntarily; all statistics are from 2007.) BYU full-time employees include approximately 1,300 instructional faculty, 88.4 percent of whom are tenured or on tenure track, and approximately 2,900 administrative and staff personnel. Part-time employees include approximately 900 faculty, administrative and staff personnel and 12,000 students. BYU faculty members hold advanced degrees from respected academic institutions around the world. Many faculty members are fluent in at least one additional language, and many conduct research and creative works in countries other than the United States.

BYU's Mission Statement

"The mission of Brigham Young University--founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life. That assistance should provide a period of intensive learning in a stimulating setting where a commitment to excellence is expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued.

"All instruction, programs, and services at BYU, including a wide variety of extracurricular experiences, should make their own contribution toward the balanced development of the total person. Such a broadly prepared individual will not only be capable of meeting personal challenge and change but will also bring strength to others in the tasks of home and family life, social relationships, civic duty, and service to mankind.

"To succeed in this mission the university must provide an environment enlightened by living prophets and sustained by those moral virtues which characterize the life and teachings of the Son of God. In that environment these four major educational goals should prevail:

All students at BYU should be taught the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any education is inadequate which does not emphasize that His is the only name given under heaven whereby mankind can be saved. Certainly all relationships within the BYU community should reflect devout love of God and a loving, genuine concern for the welfare of our neighbor.
Because the gospel encourages the pursuit of all truth, students at BYU should receive a broad university education. The arts, letters, and sciences provide the core of such an education, which will help students think clearly, communicate effectively, understand important ideas in their own cultural tradition as well as that of others, and establish clear standards of intellectual integrity.
In addition to a strong general education, students should also receive instruction in the special fields of their choice. The university cannot provide programs in all possible areas of professional or vocational work, but in those it does provide the preparation must be excellent. Students who graduate from BYU should be capable of competing with the best in their fields.
Scholarly research and creative endeavor among both faculty and students, including those in selected graduate programs of real consequence, are essential and will be encouraged.

"In meeting these objectives BYU's faculty, staff, students, and administrators should be anxious to make their service and scholarship available to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in furthering its work worldwide. In an era of limited enrollments, BYU can continue to expand its influence both by encouraging programs that are central to the Church's purposes and by making its resources available to the Church when called upon to do so.

"We believe the earnest pursuit of this institutional mission can have a strong effect on the course of higher education and will greatly enlarge Brigham Young University's influence in a world we wish to improve."

--Approved by the BYU Board of Trustees November 4, 1981

BYU Sports

BYU sports programs turn out star athletes, the most notable being a string of All-American quarterbacks who have left their mark in pro football after college.

Video: BYU All-American Quarterbacks discuss being connected for good:

Morality of BYU students, and their willingness to sacrifice sports field glory for the standards of God's kingdom, often make the news. In 2010 BYU girls opted out of final playoffs in order to keep from competing on the sabbath day. In 2009 Harvey Unga, a star halfback for the BYU Cougars' football team, had decided to stay on for his senior year, instead of moving early into the NFL. He was then suspended for breaking the BYU honor code, which forbids pre-marital sex. Harvey and his girlfriend welcomed a baby, got married, and Unga showed his prowess after drafts were long over, being accepted by the Chicago Bears. In 2011, BYU's men's basketball team was heading for one of four top-seed spots in the college basketball playoffs, with a 27-2 record. Although Jimmer Fredette, with his high-scoring magic, was all over the newspapers, it was definitely a team effort, with other star players performing necessary roles. In early March, Brandon Davies was suspended for the rest of the season for the same honor-code violation as Harvey Unga. BYU lost its next game. The following are quotes from an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor:

The punishment stands out not only because of its severity – college athletes in top programs are routinely slapped on the wrist for much worse offenses – but also because it essentially torpedoes what was shaping up to be a historic season for BYU, which is hardly a basketball powerhouse.

Because of that, the school has, a bit surprisingly perhaps, won no small amount of respect from the sports world. BYU is a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church. Nearly all of its 34,000 students are church members, most of whom will serve two years as missionaries. The school has what to the rest of the academic world is a strict and perhaps old-fashioned honor code. Among its tenets: Be honest, live a chaste and virtuous life, use clean language, participate regularly in church services, observe dress and grooming standards (no beards or ear rings for men, no “form-fitting” clothing or more than one ear piercing for women), and abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse. In order to remain “chaste and virtuous,” one must not engage in premarital sex. Students have to sign the honor code every year.

ESPN.com senior writer Pat Forde put it this way: 'What makes this such a powerful testament is the fact that so many schools have cravenly abandoned their standards at such a time as this, embracing athletic expediency over institutional principle. It happens so often that we don't even raise an eyebrow at it anymore.'

The Deseret News said the following:

"Collegiate sports scandals may well be the canaries in the coal mine of American ethics. If Christianity teaches that we put our hearts where our treasures are, then touchdowns and slam-dunks have become precious booty, indeed. We shouldn't be surprised that thieves will do all they can to get at those jewels.

"Against that backdrop, it's easy to see why so many people were stunned … when BYU booted one of its key basketball players for violating the school's honor code. Those shiny treasures hold so many people in a trance they can't imagine wanting anything else." Read more...

Michael Otterson, Director of Public Affairs for the Mormon Church, commented in an article for the Washington Post. Read it here.

Time Magazine: Is BYU's Honor Code Good for College Sports?

Rooting for BYU's Sex Ban from Philly.com

Rankings and Recognition

In 2012 BYU celebrated its 15th year as the most "Stone Cold Sober" college campus in America. BYU students are experts on having good, clean fun. [1]

"The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago reported that BYU is 10th in the nation in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctoral degrees.

"In its 2007 "America's Best Colleges" issue, U.S. News & World Report gave BYU high marks in several categories, ranking BYU 79th in the category of "Best National Universities" and 26th in the "Great Schools, Great Prices" category. BYU is also 16th for least student-incurred debt.

"The Marriott School of Management's undergraduate business programs have received acclaim from several sources. U.S. News ranked the undergraduate accounting program fifth, the undergraduate international business specialty 19th and the undergraduate management program 38th in the nation. Public Accounting Report in 2006 ranked BYU's undergraduate accounting program second in the nation. Business Week in 2008 ranked BYU undergraduate business programs seventh overall, first in the eyes of corporate recruiters, second overall (based on salary per tuition dollar) and first in return on tuition for private schools.

"The university has also performed well in graduate school rankings. The J. Reuben Clark Law School and the Marriott School of Management were ranked 44th and 41st, respectively, in the 2008 issue of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Graduate Schools." The magazine ranked BYU 72th among top graduate nursing programs, 77th among top graduate education programs and 87th among top graduate social work programs.

"In 2006, Business Week ranked the MBA program first in "time to payback," and The Princeton Review ranked the MBA program second in "most family-friendly." The Wall Street Journal rated the MBA program No. 1 among regional schools and also ranked the MBA program's ethics emphasis second, its accounting emphasis fourth and its corporate responsibility emphasis seventh. Public Accounting Report ranked the Master of Accountancy program second in the nation in 2006.

"The Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology programs have also received recognition. U.S. News & World Report ranked the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology 92nd overall, and in their "Best Graduate Schools" issue, ranked mechanical engineering specialties 65th." [2]

The Princeton Review names BYU America's most religious college. [3]

The Princeton Review gave BYU several awards, announced in the fall of 2009 for business and law schools. Not surprising was first place for family-friendly graduate schools.

While the highest family friendly ranking is not a shock -- it's the fourth time the school has received the honor since 2006 -- People were a bit surprised by the competitive rank, listing BYU's MBA students as the third most competitive. BYU also ranked with Princeton as having the fifth best professors across business academe. Bigger schools on the East Coast captured most of the other top 10 rankings. Students who have attended BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School ranked the school fairly closely on having the most conservative, yet also the most competitive students. On average, 100 students at each law school and 65 students at each business school were surveyed for the lists in the 2010 editions of the books. The results of the 80-question survey, which asks students about their school's academics, student body and campus life, themselves, and their career plans, is available online at princetonreview.com.

BYU's animation department ranks third in the country and works hand in hand with Pixar and other Hollywood companies. "Now, the (BYU animation) program is successful enough that...the studios know who they want to hire and when they're available," said R. Brent Adams, director of BYU's Center for Animation. "As soon as they are, whether it's December or April, bang, they're gone." BYU animated films have earned many student Emmy Awards.

The 2010 U.S. News and World Report college rankings rated BYU #4 for least debt, #1 for the most popular university in America (topping Harvard, Stanford, and Yale), 34th for the top business schools (Marriott School for Business and Management), #20 for "Great Schools, Great Price," 78th for engineering (Ira A. Fulton School), and in the top 75 universities overall. During the summer of 2010 BYU broke the world's record for the largest water balloon fight, a brawl lasting only 6 minutes. They made a music video out of it, and it went viral during the summer of 2010. The video, produced by BYU's Ad Lab, was the first student endeavor to win a professional award. Read about it here. You can watch it here:

In fall of 2010, BYU decided to go independent in football (with its other teams joining the West Coast Conference). This won BYU the recognition for its huge, world-wide fan base, since ESPN signed an eight year contract to broadcast BYU's home games and brokered a deal to play Texas and other prestigious teams. BYU in top 10 for sending grads off for Ph.D.'s. Over the past decade, 2,442 of BYU’s graduates have earned Ph.D.s. That figure makes BYU 10th in the country as a Ph.D. launching pad – and there are signs of an upward trend. Looking at just the past five years of data, BYU ranks 5th in the country as a Ph.D. launch pad – ahead of schools like Harvard, Stanford and Yale. In March 2012 BYU student films won multiple student Emmys from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, with this year’s haul being the largest ever. BYU student films and filmmakers won an unprecedented five awards at the 33rd College Television Awards. (Read more...) Again in 2012 the "Cougarettes," BYU's precision dance team (part of the pep squad) won the National Dance Championship in hip hop dance for the 10th time. Read more... At the end of 2012, BYU was named a "Changemaker Campus" by Ashoka University. Read about it here At the beginning of 2013, the Public Accounting Report ranked Brigham Young University as No. 3 on a list of the nation's 50 best accounting undergraduate programs. The report has ranked BYU as third in the nation for the past 18 years, according to the Mariott School of Business. [4]

BYU Grad Students are tops in business and law

U.S. News 2014 — BYU is a Top Ten Value School.

BYU Students Among Healthiest in the U.S.

BYU Student Invents 'Smart' Football Helmet

Updates

Brigham Young University TV Broadcast center

In late 2010, BYU opened a new building near the Marriott Center. It is the new location of BYU-TV and is a state-of-the-art broadcasting facility unlike any in the world. To take a tour of the building, click here.

In November 2011 the university announced plans for a new life sciences building to be built on the south side of campus. The Life Sciences Building will include 265,000 square feet of teaching and research space for the College of Life Sciences and will be constructed on the hillside directly south of the John A. Widtsoe Building. The building will be built at the current location of the Benjamin Cluff Building, which will be razed prior to construction. The building should be ready for use at the end of 2014. When finished, the building will include 16 teaching labs, three auditoriums, four conference rooms and more than 70 academic offices. All faculty and labs currently located in the Cluff and Widtsoe buildings will be housed in the new facility.

BYU sets speed record for lightweight electric cars.

BYU Addresses Needs of Gay Students

Who was Brigham Young?

External Links

Brigham Young University

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