Announcements

Before 2020, most of the BYU-Idaho community had probably never even heard of Eastern Idaho Public Health (EIPH), but BYU-Idaho has worked with the state health district for years. In fulfilling his role as BYU-Idaho’s Safety Officer, Eric Harmston has built the university’s relationship with EIPH.

On the first Tuesday of every semester, thousands of students typically gather in the BYU-Idaho Center to hear the university president. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic though, this fall semester, President Henry J. Eyring stood before an empty auditorium to kick off the tradition by sharing how the university would care for its students throughout these unprecedented times.

This Saturday, Oct. 24, and next Saturday, Oct. 31, you can listen to a BYU-Idaho produced radio drama. "The War of the Worlds" is the classic radio drama from Orson Welles and adapted by Howard Koch.

Members of the BYU-Idaho community (students, faculty/staff and community) are invited to submit original hymn texts for use in the sixteenth annual BYU-Idaho Hymn Festival to be held in 2021. While this event usually occurs in late February, due to COVID-19 restrictions it will be scheduled for a later date in 2021, yet to be determined.

BYU-Idaho is deeply concerned by the increase of active COVID-19 cases in our region and on campus. Students and employees are asked to carefully follow the required health restrictions established by Eastern Idaho Public Health (EIPH). We are committed to honoring civil authority. The university’s ability to keep campus open will be determined by EIPH thresholds, including active cases and hospital bed capacity.

The BYU-Idaho campus is ready for students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure a safe environment for students and employees who are returning back to campus, the university has implemented new course offerings and adjusted campus activities to create the best learning and social experiences possible for students and their individual needs.

Coming in Contact with COVID-19

In preparation for the upcoming Fall 2020 Semester, BYU-Idaho has undertaken many precautions in response to prioritizing the health and safety of both students and faculty. These precautions include the changes that have been made for custodial protocols, building management, communication campaigns, and university housing.

The BYU-Idaho campus is ready for students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure a safe environment for students and employees who are returning back to campus, the university has implemented new course offerings and adjusted campus activities to create the best learning and social experiences possible for students and their individual needs.

Brigham Young University-Idaho will hold its annual Education Week conference exclusively online this year. As a health and safety precaution due to COVID-19, a face-to-face conference will not take place on the BYU-Idaho campus. In place of the traditional three-day conference, a free one-day virtual conference will be held on Friday, July 31.

We are pleased to announce that Brigham Young University-Idaho will broadcast an online commencement service to celebrate and recognize our Spring Semester 2020 graduates. Elder L. Whitney Clayton, Senior President of the Quorums of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will address the 2,558 graduates of Brigham Young University-Idaho in an online commencement ceremony on Wednesday, July 22, 2020. The event will begin at 7:00 p.m. MDT at www.byui.edu/live/video.

With the anticipated approach of Fall Semester 2020, BYU-Idaho is coordinating a safe return to campus and continued delivery of high-quality, flexible education. University faculty and administrators have organized several course delivery options in order to better protect the health of students and employees and to meet the academic needs of all students wherever they are physically located. The course options for Fall Semester 2020 will include:

As part of BYU-Idaho’s mission, the university aims to provide a high-quality education that prepares students for lifelong learning and employment. Although there may be many motivating factors for why students choose to obtain higher education, employment is a main determinant.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online courses have quickly grown, as has the need for improvement in making the online classes the best they can be. More courses are currently in development to provide students a remote/hybrid class experience. These courses will incorporate both an online methodology and a face-to-face learning environment.

Due to COVID-19, the David O. McKay library has been closed to patrons since mid-March, but the services it offers continue to allow students to learn and grow wherever they may be.

Idaho is carefully monitoring COVID-19 and planning to potentially open campus this fall semester. While an official decision has not been made, the university is working to make the following course-delivery options available. Each option satisfies state, federal, and Church guidelines—with emphasis on health, sanitation, and safe practices.

BYU-Idaho is exemplary in its efforts to provide an education to thousands of individuals throughout the world. The university recognizes that because BYU-Idaho students come from a variety of backgrounds and have varied educational goals, there is often the need to provide students with a non-traditional degree experience. In the past, the university studies degree filled this role by allowing students to add more components to their degree. However, in the 2019-2020 catalog, the university studies degree was retired and the professional studies degree was introduced as an improved, renamed, and restructured version of the university studies degree.

The experience business students gain while studying on the BYU-Idaho campus prepares them for the real world. The capstone IBC course that is required for most business majors strengthens the hard and soft skills students will need to succeed. Knowing this, faculty members that oversee the IBC program have found ways to make sure students still exercise those skills while heeding social distancing guidelines.

With schools around the nation closed due to COVID-19, the Department of Teacher Education at BYU-Idaho came up with a resourceful alternative to provide students with a practicum experience while also benefiting young children who are no longer in the classroom. The result has led to 145 elementary school students receiving online literacy tutoring services this spring.

How do you convert a class that requires students to construct actual playhouses and physical models to all take place off campus? The answer lies in tactful innovation, modeling programs, and origami.

Faculty in the Department of Animal and Food Science have been working hard to make this semester effective and educational for their students away from campus. Podcasts, Zoom meetings, and many video demonstrations have been curated as a major part of the transition to online learning for the department.

From Oregon to Maine, students in the Introduction to Landscape Architecture and Design class continue to have a hands-on learning experience despite never setting foot in a physical classroom.

While many student’s summer internship plans were cancelled or put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Research and Business Development Center (RBDC) has served as a good alternative for students to continue to fulfill their planned internship credits. The RBDC is a non-profit organization that has been providing BYU-Idaho students with internship opportunities to give them useful experience for their future careers. Due to the changes of COVID-19, the RBDC has moved everything online for students and their clients.

Official spring semester enrollment totals at Brigham Young University-Idaho show growth among our total population of students who are continuing to pursue their academic goals amid a world-wide pandemic.