Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Provo, Utah
Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU).
Provo lies between the ...
. It was founded in 1875 by
religious leader
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
and is sponsored by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church).
BYU offers a variety of academic programs including those in the
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
, engineering, agriculture, management, physical and mathematical sciences, nursing, and law. It has 186
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
majors, 64
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. programs, and 26
doctoral
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
programs. It is broadly organized into 11 colleges or schools at its main Provo campus, with some colleges and divisions defining their own admission standards. The university also administers two satellite campuses, one in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and one in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, while its parent organization the
Church Educational System
The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...
(CES) sponsors sister schools in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. The university is accredited by the
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as an institutional accreditor for colleges and universities. ...
.
Almost all BYU students are members of the LDS Church. Students attending BYU agree to follow an
honor code, which mandates behavior in line with teachings of the church, such as academic honesty, adherence to dress and grooming standards, abstinence from extramarital sex, from same-sex romantic behavior, and from the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Undergraduate students are also required to complete curriculum in LDS religious education for graduation regardless of their course of study. Due in part to the church's emphasis on
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
service, nearly 50% of BYU students have lived outside the United States, 65% speak a second language, and 63 languages are taught at the university regularly.
BYU's athletic teams compete in
Division I of the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
and are collectively known as the
BYU Cougars
The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...
. Their
football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
is a
D1 Independent while their other sports teams compete in either the
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...
or
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...
. BYU's sports teams have won a total of 12 NCAA championships and 26 non-NCAA championships. On September 10, 2021, BYU formally accepted an invitation to the
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
and will start participating in the conference in the 2023–24 school year.
History
Early days
The origin of BYU can be traced back to 1862, when
Warren Dusenberry started a Provo school in Cluff Hall, a prominent adobe building in the northeast corner of 200 East and 200 North. After some financial difficulties, the school was recreated in the Kinsey and Lewis buildings on Center Street in Provo, and after gaining some recognition for its quality, was adopted to become the Timpanogos branch of the
University of Deseret
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
. When financial difficulty forced another closure, on October 16, 1875,
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
, then
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
of the LDS Church, deeded the property to trustees to create ''Brigham Young Academy'' after earlier hinting a school would be built in
Draper
Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher.
History
Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...
, Utah, in 1867. Hence, October 16, 1875, is commonly held as BYU's founding date.
Young had been envisioning for several years the concept of a church university. Said Young about his vision: "I hope to see an Academy established in Provo... at which the children of the Latter-day Saints can receive a good education unmixed with the pernicious atheistic influences that are found in so many of the higher schools of the country."
![Brigham Young Academy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Brigham_Young_Academy.jpg)
Classes at Brigham Young Academy
commenced on January 3, 1876. Dusenberry served as interim principal for several months until April 1876, when Brigham Young's choice for principal arrived—a German immigrant named
Karl Maeser.
Under Maeser's direction, the school produced many successful graduates, including future U.S. Supreme Court Justice
George Sutherland
George Alexander Sutherland (March 25, 1862July 18, 1942) was an English-born American jurist and politician. He served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1922 and 1938. As a member of the Republican Party, he also repre ...
and future U.S. Senator
Reed Smoot
Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). First elected by the Utah State Legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1902, he served ...
. The school, however, did not become a university until the end of
Benjamin Cluff
Benjamin Cluff Jr. (February 7, 1858 – June 14, 1948) was the first president of Brigham Young University and its third principal. Under his administration, the student body and faculty more than doubled in size, and the school went from an acade ...
's term at the helm of the institution. At that time, the school was still privately supported by members of the community and was not absorbed and sponsored officially by the church until July 18, 1896.
A series of odd managerial decisions by Cluff led to his demotion; however, in his last official act, he proposed to the board that the academy be named "Brigham Young University". The suggestion received a large amount of opposition, with many members of the Board saying the school was not large enough to be a university, but the decision ultimately passed. One opponent to the decision, Anthon H. Lund, later said, "I hope their head will grow big enough for their hat."
[
In 1903, Brigham Young Academy was dissolved and replaced by two institutions, ]Brigham Young High School
Brigham Young High School was a private high school in Provo, Utah, United States, first known as Brigham Young Academy (BYA). The school later became attached to Brigham Young University (BYU) with its official name being Brigham Young Universit ...
(BY High) and BYU. The BY High class of 1907 was ultimately responsible for the giant "Y" that remains embedded on a mountain near campus. The Board elected George H. Brimhall as the new President of BYU. He had not received a high school education until he was forty. Nevertheless, he was an excellent orator and organizer.[ Under his tenure in 1904, the new BYU bought of land from Provo called "Temple Hill."] After some controversy among locals over BYU's purchase of this property, construction began in 1909 on the first building on the current campus, the Karl G. Maeser Memorial. Brimhall also presided over BYU during a brief crisis involving the theory of evolution. The religious nature of the school seemed at the time to collide with this scientific theory. Joseph F. Smith, church president at the time, settled the question for a time by asking that evolution not be taught at the school. Over time, students and faculty found a way to reconcile the factual elements of evolution with the church's teachings. Even though a few at this time described the school as little more than a "religious seminary," many of its graduates from this time would go on to great success and become well renowned in a variety of fields.[
]
Expansion
In 1921, Franklin S. Harris
Franklin Stewart Harris (August 29, 1884 – April 18, 1960) was president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from July 1921 until June 1945, and president of Utah State University from 1945 to 1950. His administration was the longest in BYU history ...
was appointed as BYU's president and was the first in this role to have a doctoral degree. Harris made several significant changes to the school, reorganizing it into a true university, whereas before, its organization had remnants of the academy days. At the beginning of his tenure, the school was not officially recognized as a university by any accreditation organization. By the end of his term, the school was accredited under all major accrediting organizations at the time. He was succeeded by Howard S. McDonald, who received a doctorate from the University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
. When he first received the position, the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
had just ended, and thousands of students were flooding into BYU. By the end of his stay, the school had grown nearly five times to 5,440 students. BYU did not have the facilities to handle such a large influx, so he bought part of an Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...
and rebuilt it to house some of the students.[ The next president, Ernest L. Wilkinson, also oversaw a period of intense growth as the school adopted an accelerated building program. Wilkinson was responsible for the building of over eighty structures on the campus, many of which still stand.] During his tenure, the student body increased six-fold, making BYU the largest private school at the time. The quality of the students also increased, leading to higher educational standards at the school. Finally, Wilkinson reorganized LDS Church units on campus, with ten stakes and over 100 wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
added during his administration.[
]
Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin Harris Oaks (born August 12, 1932) is an American religious leader and former jurist and academic who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was ...
replaced Wilkinson as president in 1971. Oaks continued the expansion of his predecessor, adding a law school and proposing plans for a new School of Management. During his administration, a new library was also added, doubling the library space on campus. Jeffrey R. Holland
Jeffrey Roy Holland (born December 3, 1940) is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the List of presidents of Brigham Young University, ninth President of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is a member of the Quorum of the Twe ...
followed as president in 1980, encouraging a combination of educational excellence and religious faith. He believed one of the school's greatest strengths was its religious nature and that this should be taken advantage of, rather than hidden. During his administration, BYU added a campus in Jerusalem, now called the BYU Jerusalem Center
The Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (often simply referred to as the BYU Jerusalem Center or BYU–Jerusalem), situated on Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, is a satellite campus of Brigham Young University ( ...
. In 1989, Holland was replaced by Rex E. Lee
Rex Edwin Lee (February 27, 1935 – March 11, 1996) was an American lawyer and academic who served as the 37th Solicitor General of the United States from 1981 until 1985. He was responsible for bringing the solicitor general's office to the cent ...
. Lee was responsible for the construction of the Benson Science Building and the Museum of Art. A cancer victim, Lee is memorialized annually at BYU during a cancer fundraiser called the Rex Lee Run. Shortly before his death, Lee resigned and was replaced in 1995 by Merrill J. Bateman.
Bateman was responsible for the construction of 36 new buildings for BYU, both on and off the campus, including the expansion of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also one of several key college leaders who brought about the creation of the Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...
, which BYU's athletics program joined — BYU previously participated in the Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...
. A satellite TV network also opened in 2000 under his leadership. Bateman was followed by Cecil O. Samuelson
Cecil Osborn Samuelson Jr. (born Aug 1, 1941) was the 12th president of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is an emeritus general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Prior to holding these positions, Samuel ...
in 2003. Samuelson was succeeded by Kevin J Worthen
Kevin J Worthen (born April 15, 1956) has been the 13th president of Brigham Young University (BYU) since 2014. From 2010 to 2021, he also served as an area seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Worthen served ...
in 2014.
Campus
The main campus in Provo, Utah
Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU).
Provo lies between the ...
, sits on approximately nestled at the base of the Wasatch Mountains
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
and includes 295 buildings. The buildings feature a wide variety of architectural styles, each building being built in the style of its time.[ The grass, trees, and flower beds on BYU's campus are impeccably maintained. Furthermore, views of the Wasatch Mountains, (including ]Mount Timpanogos
Mount Timpanogos, often referred to as Timp, is the second-highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timpanogos rises to an elevation of above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. With of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is ...
) can be seen from the campus.[ BYU's ]Harold B. Lee Library
The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah. The library started as a small collection of books in the president's office in 1876 before moving in 1891. The Heber J. Gran ...
(also known as "HBLL"), which ''The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
'' ranked as the No. 1 "Great College Library" in 2004, has approximately 8.5 million items in its collections, contains of shelving, and can seat 4,600 people. The Spencer W. Kimball Tower
The Spencer W. Kimball Tower, also known as the Kimball Tower or KMBL (formerly SWKT ), is a 12-story building that houses classrooms and administrative offices on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo, Utah.Brigham Young University. nk ...
is home to several of the university's departments and programs and is the tallest building in Provo, Utah, and the Marriott Center
The Marriott Center is a multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It is home to the BYU Cougars BYU Cougars men's basketball, men's and BYU Cougars women's basketball, wom ...
serves primarily as a basketball arena and can seat over 19,000, making it the tenth largest on-campus arena in the nation. On Sundays, nearly all of the buildings on campus are utilized to host church services.
Museums
The campus is home to several museums containing exhibits from many different fields of study. BYU's Museum of Art, for example, is one of the largest and most attended art museums in the Mountain West. This museum aids in academic pursuits of students at BYU via research and study of the artworks in its collection. The museum is also open to the general public and provides educational programming. The Museum of Peoples and Cultures is a museum of archaeology and ethnology. It focuses on native cultures and artifacts of the Great Basin, American Southwest, Mesoamerica, Peru, and Polynesia. Home to more than 40,000 artifacts and 50,000 photographs, it documents BYU's archaeological research. The BYU Museum of Paleontology
The Brigham Young University Museum of Paleontology was started in 1976 around the collection of James A. Jensen. For many years, it was known as the ''BYU Earth Science Museum'', and most of the collection was in storage under the LaVell Edwards ...
was built in 1976 to display the many fossils found by BYU's James A. Jensen
James Alvin Jensen (August 2, 1918 – December 14, 1998), was an American paleontologist. His extensive collecting program at Brigham Young University in the Utah-Colorado region which spanned 23 years was comparable in terms of the number of ...
. It holds many vertebrate fossils from the Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
and Cretaceous periods, and is one of the top five vertebrate fossil collections in the world from the Jurassic. The museum receives about 25,000 visitors every year. The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum
The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum is a natural history museum housed at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, United States.
Description
The museum is named for Monte Lafayette Bean, a self-made Seattle-based magnate who entirely ...
was formed in 1978. It features several forms of plant and animal life on display and available for research by students and scholars.
Performing arts
The campus also houses several performing arts facilities. The de Jong Concert Hall seats 1282 people and is named for Gerrit de Jong Jr. Gerrit de Jong Jr. (28 March 1892, Amsterdam – 26 September 1978, Provo, Utah) was an American academic and the first dean of the College of Fine Arts at Brigham Young University (BYU).
de Jong was skilled in music and wrote the words and music ...
The Pardoe Theatre is named for T. Earl and Kathryn Pardoe. Students use its stage in a variety of theatre experiments, as well as for Pardoe Series performances. It seats 500 people, and has quite a large stage with a proscenium
A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
opening of 19 by . The Margetts Theatre was named for Philip N. Margetts, a prominent Utah theatre figure. A smaller, black box theater
A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...
, it allows a variety of seating and staging formats. It seats 125, and measures 30 by .[ The Nelke Theatre, named for one of BYU's first drama teachers, is used largely for instruction in experimental theater. It seats 280.][
]
Student housing
BYU has on-campus housing communities for freshmen students as well as for students 19 years and older. Single students who are freshmen have four options for on-campus housing: Heritage Halls, Helaman Halls, Riviera Apartments, and the Foreign Language Student Residence (FLSR). On-campus housing for single students 19 years old and older is available at Wyview Park, Heritage Halls, and in the Foreign Language Student Residence Halls. On-campus married students live in Wymount Terrace or Wyview Park.
Branches of the BYU Creamery provide basic food and general grocery products for students living in Heritage Halls, Helaman, Wymount, Wyview, and the FLSR. Helaman Halls is also served by a central cafeteria called the Cannon Center. The creamery, begun in 1949, has become a BYU tradition and is also frequented by visitors to the university and members of the community. It was the first on-campus full-service grocery store in the country.
Sustainability
BYU has designated energy conservation, products and materials, recycling, site planning and building design, student involvement, transportation, water conservation, and zero waste events as top priority categories in which to further its efforts to be an environmentally sustainable campus. The university has stated "we have a responsibility to be wise stewards of the earth and its resources." BYU is working to increase the energy efficiency of its buildings by installing various speed drives on all pumps and fans, replacing incandescent lighting with fluorescent lighting, retrofitting campus buildings with low-E reflective glass, and upgraded roof insulation to prevent heat loss. The student groups BYU Recycles, Eco-Response, and BYU Earth educate students, faculty, staff, and administrators about how the campus can decrease its environmental impact. BYU Recycles spearheaded the recent campaign to begin recycling plastics, which the university did after a year of student campaigning.
Organization and administration
BYU is a part of CES. It is organized under a board of trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, with the president of the church (currently Russell M. Nelson
Russell Marion Nelson Sr. (born September 9, 1924) is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Nelson was a member of the LDS Church ...
) as chairman. This board consists of the same people as the Church Board of Education, a pattern that has been in place since 1939. Prior to 1939, BYU had a separate board of trustees that was subordinate to the Church Board of Education. The president of BYU, currently Kevin J Worthen, reports to the Board, through the Commissioner of Education.
The university operates under 11 colleges or schools, which collectively offer 194 bachelor's degree programs, 68 master's degree programs, 25 PhD programs, and a Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
program. BYU also manages some courses and majors through the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies and "miscellaneous" college departments, including Undergraduate Education, Graduate Studies, Independent Study, Continuing Education, and the Honors Program. BYU's Winter semester ends earlier than most universities in April since there is no Spring break, thus allowing students to pursue internships and other summer activities earlier. A typical academic year is broken up into two semesters: Fall (September–December) and Winter (January–April), as well as two shorter terms during the summer months: Spring (May–June) and Summer (July–August).
Academics
Admissions and demographics
BYU accepted 53.4 percent of the 13,731 people who applied for admission in the spring and summer terms, and fall semester of 2017. The average GPA for these admitted students was 3.86 with an average ACT of 29.5 and SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
of 1300.
Students from every state in the U.S. and from many foreign countries attend BYU. (In the 2005–06 academic year, there were 2,396 foreign students, or eight percent of enrollment.)[The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 31, 2007.] Slightly more than 98 percent of these students are active Latter-day Saints. In 2006, 12.6 percent of the student body reported themselves as ethnic minorities, mostly Asians, Pacific islanders and Hispanics. Also in 2020, The racial breakdown of students was 81.0% white, 7.3% Hispanic, 4.4% multi-ethnic, 3.3% international, 1.9% Asian, 1.0% unknown, 0.7% native Hawaiian or pacific islander, and 0.4% Black or African American. The racial composition of students at BYU are overwhelmingly non-Hispanic white
Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
, and BYU is one of the whitest universities in the United States.
Rankings
Brigham Young University has been highly ranked in many measurements of universities. In 2004, a National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
study on revealed preference of U.S. colleges showed BYU was the 6th most-preferred choice in the Intermountain West
The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west ...
, between Princeton and Brown.
BYU is regularly recognized for its low-cost, high-quality education. In 2019, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' and ''Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' ranked BYU tied for No. 1 "Worth the Cost" college. Likewise, ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' rated BYU No. 1 on its list of "America's Best Value Colleges 2019".'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked BYU No. 6 in Best Value Schools in 2022 and tied for No. 79 among national universities in the country.
BYU is designated as a research university with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...
. ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine ranked it as the No. 1 "Top University to Work For in 2014" and as the best college in Utah.
In 2016, the university's Marriott School of Management
The Marriott School of Business is the business school of Brigham Young University (BYU), a private university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and located in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1891 and renamed i ...
received a No. 18 ranking by ''Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' for its undergraduate programs, and its MBA program was ranked by several sources: No. 25 ranking by ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' in 2018, No. 19 by ''Forbes'' in 2017, and tied for No. 30 by ''U.S. News & World Report'' for 2021. For 2020, the university's School of Accountancy, which is housed within the Marriott School, received a No. 4 ranking out of 44 graduate programs rated by ''U.S. News & World Report''.
The BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School
The J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU Law or JRCLS) is the graduate law school of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, a former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and g ...
has a No. 29 national ranking for 2022, according to ''U.S. News & World Report''.
Graduation honors
Undergraduate students may qualify for graduation honors. ''University Honors'' is the highest distinction BYU awards its graduates. Administered by the Honors Program
Honors colleges and honors programs are special accommodation constituent programs at public and private universities – and also public two-year institutions of higher learning – that include, among other things, supplemental or alternative ...
, the distinction requires students to complete an honors curriculum requirement, a Great Questions requirement, an Experiential Learning requirement, an honors thesis requirement, and a graduation portfolio that summarizes the student's honors experiences.
The university also awards Latin scholastic distinctions separately from the Honors Program: summa cum laude (top 1 percent), magna cum laude (top 5 percent), and cum laude (top 10 percent). The university additionally recognizes Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...
graduation honors.
Notable research and awards
According to the National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, BYU spent $40.7 million on research and development in 2018. Scientists associated with BYU have created some notable inventions. Philo T. Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...
, inventor and pioneer of the electronic television, began college at BYU, and later returned to do fusion research, receiving an honorary degree from the university in 1967. Alumnus Harvey Fletcher
Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 – July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. Known as the "father of stereophonic sound", he is credited with the invention of the 2-A audiometer and an early electronic hearing aid. He was an investigator in ...
, inventor of stereophonic sound, went on to carry out the now famous oil-drop experiment
The oil drop experiment was performed by Robert A. Millikan and Harvey Fletcher in 1909 to measure the elementary electric charge (the charge of the electron). The experiment took place in the Ryerson Physical Laboratory at the University of Chi ...
with Robert Millikan
Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric e ...
, and was later Founding Dean of the BYU College of Engineering. H. Tracy Hall, inventor of the man-made diamond
Lab-grown diamond (LGD; also called laboratory-grown, laboratory-created, man-made, artisan-created, artificial, synthetic, or cultured diamond) is diamond that is produced in a controlled technological process (in contrast to naturally formed ...
, left General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
in 1955 and became a full professor of chemistry and Director of Research at BYU. While there, he invented a new type of diamond press, the tetrahedral press. In student achievements, BYU Ad Lab teams won both the 2007 and 2008 L'Oréal
L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...
National Brandstorm Competition, and students developed the Magnetic Lasso algorithm found in Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...
. In prestigious scholarships, BYU has produced 10 Rhodes Scholars
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
, four Gates Scholars
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established the Gates Cambridge Scholarships in 2000 with a $210 million donation to support outstanding graduate students' study at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is one of the most competitiv ...
in the last six years, and in the last decade has claimed 41 Fulbright scholars
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
and 3 Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...
scholars.
Devotionals and forums
To provide students with opportunities for both spiritual and intellectual insight, BYU has hosted weekly devotional and forum assemblies since the school's early days. Devotionals are most common and address religious topics, often with academic perspective or insight. Devotional speakers are typically drawn from the BYU faculty and administration or LDS Church leadership, including church presidents George Albert Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, Thomas S. Monson, and Russell M. Nelson.
Several times each year the devotional is replaced by a forum, which typically addresses a more secular topic and may include a speaker from outside the BYU or Latter-day Saint community. In recent years, forum speakers have included notable politicians (e.g. Joseph Lieberman, Mitt Romney), scientists (Neil deGrasse Tyson, DJ Patil), historians (David McCullough, Richard Beeman), religious leaders (Archbishop Charles Chaput, Albert Mohler) and judicial figures (John Roberts, Thomas Griffith).
Although attendance is not required, several thousand students attend the weekly assemblies, which are also broadcast on BYUtv and archived in text, audio, and video formats on the BYU Speeches website.
International focus
Over three quarters of the student body has some proficiency in a second language (numbering 107 languages in total). This is partially because 45 percent of the student body at BYU have been Latter-day Saint missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
, and many of them learned a foreign language as part of their mission assignment. During any given semester, about one-third of the student body is enrolled in foreign language classes, a rate nearly four times the national average.[ BYU offers courses in over 60 different languages,][ many with advanced courses that are seldom offered elsewhere. Several of its language programs are the largest of their type in the nation, such as the Russian program.] The university was selected by the United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
as the location of the national Middle East Language Resource Center, making the school a hub for experts on that region.[ It was also selected as a Center for International Business Education Research, a function of which is to train business employees in international languages and relations.][
Beyond this, BYU also runs a very large study abroad program, with satellite centers in London, ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and Paris, as well as more than 20 other sites. Nearly 2,000 students take advantage of these programs yearly. In 2001, the Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...
ranked BYU as the number one university in the U.S. to offer students study abroad opportunities. The BYU Jerusalem Center
The Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (often simply referred to as the BYU Jerusalem Center or BYU–Jerusalem), situated on Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, is a satellite campus of Brigham Young University ( ...
, which was closed in 2000 due to student security concerns related to the Second Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
and later the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...
, was reopened to students in the Winter 2007 semester.
A few special additions enhance the language-learning experience. For example, BYU's International Cinema, featuring films in several languages, is the largest and longest-running university-run foreign film program in the country. BYU also offers an intensive foreign language living experience, the Foreign Language Student Residence. This is an on-campus apartment complex where students commit to speak only their chosen foreign language while in their apartments. Each apartment has at least one native speaker to ensure correct language usage.
Academic freedom issues
In 1992, the university drafted a new Statement on Academic Freedom, specifying that limitations may be placed upon "expression with students or in public that: (1) contradicts or opposes, rather than analyzes or discusses, fundamental Latter-day Saint doctrine or policy; (2) deliberately attacks or derides the church or its general leaders; or (3) violates the Honor Code because the expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others." These restrictions caused some controversy as several professors had been disciplined according to the then-new rule. The American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
The AAUP's stated mission is ...
had claimed that "infringements on academic freedom are distressingly common and that the climate for academic freedom is distressingly poor."
The newer rules have not affected BYU's accreditation, as the university's chosen accrediting body allows "religious colleges and universities to place limitations on academic freedom so long as they publish those limitations candidly", according to associate academic vice president Jim Gordon. The AAUP's concern was not with restrictions on the faculty member's religious expression but with a failure, as alleged by the faculty member and AAUP, that the restrictions had not been adequately specified in advance by BYU: "The AAUP requires that any doctrinal limitations on academic freedom be laid out clearly in writing. We AUP AUP may refer to:
Educational institutions
* Adventist University of the Philippines
* American University of Paris
* American University Preparatory School
University presses
* Amsterdam University Press
* Associated University Presses, US
Other ...
concluded that BYU had failed to do so adequately."
In 2021, the Salt Lake Tribune
''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871."
History
A ...
noted the tension between faith and scholarship that has existed at the university as early as 1910, and how the recent LDS Church calls for a retrenchment has some BYU professors worried about a new wave of fideism
Fideism () is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). The word ''fideism'' c ...
at the university.
Performing arts
Dance
The BYU Ballroom Dance Company is known as one of the best formation ballroom dance teams in the world, having won the U.S. National Formation Dance Championship every year since 1982. BYU's ballroom dance team has won first place in Latin or Standard (or both) many times when they have competed at the Blackpool Dance Festival
The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920. It is also the largest bal ...
, and they were the first U.S. team to win the formation championships at the famed British Championships in Blackpool, England in 1972. The NDCA National DanceSport
Dancesport is competitive ballroom dance, ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair.
Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesp ...
championships have been held at BYU for several years, and BYU holds dozens of ballroom dance classes each semester and is consequently the largest collegiate ballroom dance program in the world.[ In addition, BYU has a number of other notable dance teams and programs. These teams include the Theatre Ballet, Contemporary Dance Theatre, Living Legends, and International Folk Dance Ensemble. The Living Legends perform Latin, Native American, and Polynesian dancing. BYU boasts one of the largest dance departments in the nation. Many students from all different majors across campus participate in various dance classes each semester.
]
Music
The Young Ambassadors
__NOTOC__
The Young Ambassadors are a song and dance performing group from Brigham Young University (BYU). Consisting of 20 performers, 10 male and 10 female, they were founded by Janie Thompson in 1969. Since their first international performance ...
are a song and dance performing group with a 50-year history at BYU. Prior to 1970 the group was known as Curtain Time USA. In the 1960s their world tour stops included Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, and Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. The group first performed as the Young Ambassadors at Expo '70
The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
in Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and has since performed in over 56 nations. The royalty of Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, along with persons of high office in countries such as India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, have been among their audiences.
The BYU Opera Workshop gave the first North American performance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
opera The Pilgrim's Progress
''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...
on April 28, 1969, directed by Max C. Golightly.
BYU's Wind Symphony and Chamber Orchestra have toured many countries including Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, the British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, and Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
. The Symphonic Band is also an ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:
Art
* Architectural ensemble
* ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album
* Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary
* Ensemble cast (drama, comedy)
* Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus
* ''En ...
dedicated to developing the musician, but with a less strenuous focus on performance
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
. Additionally, BYU has a marching band
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...
program called the Cougar Marching Band.
BYU has a choral program with over 500 members. The four BYU auditioned choirs
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
include the 40-member BYU Singers, the 90-member BYU Concert Choir
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
, the 200-member BYU Men's Chorus
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
(the largest male collegiate choir in the U.S.), and the 190-member BYU Women's Chorus. Both the BYU Men's Chorus and BYU Singers have toured across the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and around the globe. Each of the four groups has recorded several times under BYU's label ''Tantara Records
Tantara Records is a recording label owned by Brigham Young University (BYU) and operated by the BYU School of Music. The mission of Tantara is to promote the musical works of BYU, both by its various vocal and instrumental ensembles and also th ...
''.
BYU's a cappella groups, Vocal Point
BYU Vocal Point is a nine-member, male a cappella group at Brigham Young University (BYU). Founded by two students, Bob Ahlander & Dave Boyce, in 1991, Vocal Point is under the direction of Emmy award-winning director and former member, McKay Cr ...
and Noteworthy are among the top groups in the country, both of them having been crowned International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("NCCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college ''a cappella'' groups each ye ...
winners, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Both groups release multiple music videos a year and operate under BYU's Performing Arts Management.
BYU also has a Balinese gamelan
Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
ensemble, Gamelan Bintang Wahyu.
Athletics
BYU sponsors 21 athletic teams that compete in Division I of the NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
, plus 6 teams that compete in extramural competition and over 50 intramural activities. Their college football team is a D1 Independent, while their other sports teams compete in either the West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...
or Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...
. BYU's sports teams have won a total of 12 NCAA championships and 26 non-NCAA championships. In 2021, BYU formally accepted an invitation to the Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
and will start participating in the conference in the 2023–24 school year. Also that year, BYU's athletics program was ranked #17 out of 293 Division I schools for overall athletics by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 ins ...
( Directors' Cup).
BYU's athletic teams are named the "Cougars", with Cosmo the Cougar
Cosmo is the official mascot of Brigham Young University's (BYU) athletic teams. He can be seen at almost all sporting events, wearing the uniform of the team that is playing. In the past, Cosmo's job was a volunteer position, and no scholarship ...
serving as the school's mascot since 1953. The school's fight song is the Cougar Fight Song. Because many of its players serve on full-time missions for two years (men when they're 18, women when 19), BYU athletes are often older on average than other schools' players. The NCAA allows students to serve missions for two years without subtracting that time from their eligibility period. This has caused minor controversy, but is largely recognized as not lending the school any significant advantage, since players receive no athletic and little physical training during their missions. BYU has also received attention from sports networks for refusal to play games on Sunday, as well as expelling players due to honor code violations.
The university's teams and individual players have won various awards for their achievements. Its football has had seven inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
and one Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner, and it won the National Championship in 1984. In basketball, BYU has had several standout basketball players including 2011 Naismith College Player of the Year
The Naismith College Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the top men's and women's collegiate basketball players. It is named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball.
History an ...
Jimmer Fredette
James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. He last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. Fredette was the 2011 National Player of the Year in college ...
and 1981 John R. Wooden Award
The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...
winner Danny Ainge
Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and former professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A three-sp ...
.
Student life
Religious atmosphere
BYU's stated mission "is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life." BYU is thus considered by its leaders to be at heart a religious institution, wherein, ideally, religious and secular education are interwoven in a way that encourages the highest standards in both areas. This weaving of the secular and the religious aspects of a religious university goes back as far as Brigham Young himself, who told Karl G. Maeser when the church purchased the school: "I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the
multiplication tables without the Spirit of God."
BYU has been considered by some Latter-day Saints, as well as some university and church leaders, to be "The Lord's university." This phrase is used in reference to the school's mission as an ambassador to the world for the Church of Jesus Christ, and thus for Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. In the past, some students and faculty have expressed dissatisfaction with this nickname, stating that it gives students the idea that university authorities are always divinely inspired and never to be contradicted. Leaders of the school, however, acknowledge that the nickname represents more a goal that the university strives for and not its current state of being. Leaders encourage students and faculty to help fulfill the goal by following the teachings of their religion, adhering to the school's honor code, and serving others with the knowledge they gain while attending.
BYU mandates that its students who are Latter-day Saints be religiously active. All applicants are required to provide an endorsement from an ecclesiastic leader with their application for admittance. Over 900 rooms on the BYU campus are used for the purposes of Church congregations. More than 150 congregations meet on BYU campus each Sunday, where "BYU's campus becomes one of the busiest and largest centers of worship in the world" with about 24,000 persons attending church services on campus.
Some 97 percent of male BYU graduates and 32 percent of female graduates have served as Latter-day Saint missionaries. In October 2012, the church announced at its general conference that young men could serve a mission after they turn 18 and have graduated from high school. Since that time many young men have elected to enroll at BYU after their mission rather than taking a hiatus during their college studies. Missionary service often lasts up to two years for young men, and up to 18 months for young women.
Honor code
All students and faculty, regardless of religion, are required to agree to adhere to an honor code. Early forms of the Church Educational System Honor Code are found as far back as the days of the Brigham Young Academy and early school President Karl G. Maeser. Maeser created the "Domestic Organization", a group of teachers who would visit students at their homes to ensure they were following the school's moral rules prohibiting obscenity, profanity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. The Honor Code was not formally created until about 1940, and was initially used mainly for cases of cheating and academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...
.
President Wilkinson expanded the Honor Code in 1957 to include other school standards. This led to what the Honor Code represents today: rules regarding chastity, dress, grooming, drugs, and alcohol. A signed commitment to live the honor code is part of the application process, and must be adhered by all students, faculty, and staff. Students and faculty found in violation of standards are warned or called to meet with representatives of the Honor Council. In certain cases, students and faculty can be expelled or lose tenure. All students, regardless of religious affiliation or Church membership, are required to meet annually with a Church or other religious leader to receive an ecclesiastical endorsement for both acceptance and continuance at the university.
Policies on LGBTQ students and behavior
BYU has regularly been ranked among the most LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
-unfriendly schools in the United States, and its policies towards LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
students have sparked criticism and protests. Historically, experiences for BYU students identifying as LGBTQIA+ have included being banned from enrolling due to their romantic attractions in the 60s, being required by school administration to undergo electroshock and vomit aversion therapies in the 1970s, having nearly 80% of BYU students reporting they'd refuse to live with an openly homosexual person in a poll in the 1990s,[ and a campus-wide ban on coming out until 2007.] Until 2021 there were not any LGBTQIA+ - specific resources on campus, though there is now the Office of Student Success and Inclusion. Though the ban on coming out was lifted in 2007, the Honor Code still bans homosexual behavior as of 2022, and LGBTQ BYU students are at risk of expulsion for hugs or same-sex dating.[ Until 2021 queer students were banned from meeting together in an LGBTQ–straight alliance group on-campus.] In February 2020, BYU removed the "homosexual behavior" section from its online honor code, including parts which banned "all forms of physical intimacy" between members of the same sex, however, both Paul Johnson, a general authority Seventy and commissioner of the Church Educational System, and Honor Code Office director Kevin Utt stated that, "same-sex romantic behavior is a violation of the principles of the Honor Code", and "is not compatible" with the Honor Code.
Effects on sexual assault reporting
Current policy assures that victims "will not be disciplined by the university for any related honor code violation occurring at or near the time of the reported sexual misconduct unless a person's health or safety is at risk." In 2016 and 2017 the Honor Code, in light of identified potential conflicts with Title IX
Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
obligations, was extensively reviewed and updated. Criticism of past policy pointed to conflicts the policies and enforcement created for survivors of sexual assault. Beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2016, some students reported that, after being sexually assaulted or raped, they were told they would face discipline because of honor code violations for consensual sexual relationships in violation of the policy that came to light during the investigation of reported sexual assaults. Criticism has been leveled that this atmosphere may prevent other students from reporting sexual assault crimes to police, a situation that local law enforcement have publicly criticized. In response, the Victim Services Coordinator of the Provo Police Department called for an amnesty clause to be added to the Honor Code, which would not punish sexual assault survivors for past honor code violations discovered during the investigation. BYU launched a review of the practice, which concluded in October 2016. BYU announced several changes to how it would handle sexual assault reports, including adding an amnesty clause, and ensuring under most circumstances that information is not shared between Title IX Office and Honor Code Office without the victim's consent. In June 2017, the policy was further revised to affirm that "BYU strongly encourages the reporting of all incidents of sexual misconduct so that support services can be offered to victims and sexual misconduct can be prevented and stopped."
Culture and activities
BYU was ranked by The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
in 2008 as 14th in the nation for having the happiest students and highest quality of life. The Princeton Review has also ranked BYU the "#1 stone-cold sober school" in the nation for 22 consecutive years, most likely due to students' adherence to the university's Honor Code. Additionally, according to the Uniform Crime Reports
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and co ...
, incidents of crime in Provo are lower than the national average, with murder classified as very rare and robberies are about 1/10 the national average. In 2016, ''Business Insider'' rated BYU as the #1 safest college campus in the nation.
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
are prohibited at BYU, so most on-campus student activities and clubs are organized by the BYU Student Service Association (BYUSA
The Brigham Young University Student Service Association (BYUSA) is the official student association at Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. Student government appeared at BYU as early as the 1900s. Throughout its existence, th ...
), the university's official student association
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
. Other groups such as comedy troupe Divine Comedy are sponsored by academic departments. BYU also sponsored a question-answering service known as the "100 Hour Board" where anyone with an account could ask a question, with topics ranging from academic questions to questions about relationships or church doctrine, and it was answered in 100 hours by pseudo-anonymous BYU students. In its early days, it was affiliated with ''The Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Ac ...
''. The 100 Hour Board is now scheduled for archive with its last answer being posted in 2021.
BYU's Wilkinson Center serves as the hub for entertainment on campus and includes a bowling alley, a movie theater, and an eatery. BYU's Outdoors Unlimited service provides rental and repairs for recreational equipment to help students take advantage of nearby outdoor activities like mountain biking, backpacking, rafting, and skiing.
Media
The BYU Broadcasting Technical Operations Center is an HD production and distribution facility that is home to local PBS affiliate KBYU-TV
KBYU-TV (channel 11) is a non-commercial educational independent television station licensed to Provo, Utah, United States, serving Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. The station is owned by Brigham Young University (BYU), an arm of the Church ...
, local classical music station KBYU-FM
KBYU-FM (89.1 MHz) is a classical music radio station run by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It is known on-air as Classical 89. It is a production of BYU Radio. It transmits at an effective radiated power of 32 kW. Its transmit ...
Classical 89, BYU Radio
BYU Radio is a talk radio station run by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Operating at Sirius XM channel 143 (and in northern Utah on 107.9 KUMT and 89.1-2 KBYU-HD2), it is known on-air as BYU Radio. The station features "news, current e ...
, BYU Radio Instrumental, BYU Radio International, BYUtv
BYU TV (stylized as BYUtv) is a television channel, founded in 2000, which is owned and operated as a part of Brigham Young University (BYU). The channel, available through cable and satellite distributors in the United States, produces a number ...
and BYU Television International
Brigham Young University Television International (BYUtv International) was a Utah-based cable and satellite television channel that broadcast throughout the American continents and parts of Europe free of charge. Its headquarters are located on ...
with content in Spanish and Portuguese (both available via terrestrial, satellite, and internet signals). BYUtv is also available via cable throughout some areas of the United States. The BYU Broadcasting Technical Operations Center is home to three television production studios, two television control rooms, radio studios, radio performance space, and master control operations.
The university produces a weekly newspaper called The Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Ac ...
(it was published daily until 2012), maintains an online news site that is regularly updated called The Digital Universe and has a daily news program broadcast via KBYU-TV. The university also has a recording label called Tantara Records
Tantara Records is a recording label owned by Brigham Young University (BYU) and operated by the BYU School of Music. The mission of Tantara is to promote the musical works of BYU, both by its various vocal and instrumental ensembles and also th ...
which is run by the BYU School of Music
The BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications (CFAC) is one of nine colleges at Brigham Young University, a private university operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and located in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1925, the college ...
and promotes the works of student ensembles and faculty.
Y Magazine
is the university's alumni publication, distributed quarterly to more than 200,000 addresses. With a history that dates back to the 1920s, Y Magazine covers a wide variety of BYU activities, from student life and alumni activities to athletics and research
BYU Today
is the magazine's email newsletter, distributed twice a month.
Alumni
, BYU has 443,426 living alumni. Alumni relations are coordinated and activities are held at the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center
The Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center is a three-story building named for Gordon B. Hinckley which houses alumni association offices on the Brigham Young University (BYU) campus in Provo, Utah.
The building acts as a visitors center, c ...
.
Over 21 BYU graduates have served in the U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
and U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
, such as former Dean of the U.S. Senate, Reed Smoot
Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). First elected by the Utah State Legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1902, he served ...
(class of 1876) and former President pro tempore of the United States Senate
The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator ...
. George Sutherland
George Alexander Sutherland (March 25, 1862July 18, 1942) was an English-born American jurist and politician. He served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1922 and 1938. As a member of the Republican Party, he also repre ...
served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
between 1922 and 1938. Cabinet members of American presidents include former Secretary of Agriculture
The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments.
The department includes several organi ...
, Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899 – May 30, 1994) was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and a ...
('26), and former United States Solicitor General
The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021.
The United States solicitor general represent ...
, Rex E. Lee
Rex Edwin Lee (February 27, 1935 – March 11, 1996) was an American lawyer and academic who served as the 37th Solicitor General of the United States from 1981 until 1985. He was responsible for bringing the solicitor general's office to the cent ...
('60). Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
, U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
, former Governor of Massachusetts
The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.
Massachusetts ...
, and 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee, was class of 1971.
BYU alumni in academia include former Dean of the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
Kim B. Clark
Kim Bryce Clark (born March 20, 1949) is an American scholar, educator, and religious leader who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since April 2015, and was the church's seventeenth Com ...
, two time world's most influential business thinker Clayton M. Christensen
Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of " disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century ...
, Michael K. Young
Michael Kent Young (born November 4, 1949) is an American lawyer and academic administrator who served as president of Texas A&M University from 2015 to 2020.
Early life and education
Young was born and raised in Sacramento, California. He ear ...
('73), former president of the University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, Matthew S. Holland
Matthew Scott Holland (born June 7, 1966) has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since April 2020. He previously served as the 6th president of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, a ...
, former president of Utah Valley University
Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July 2008.
History ...
, Stan L. Albrecht
Stan LeRoy Albrecht (born July 13, 1942) is an American educator, university administrator, and scholar. He served as the president of Utah State University from 2005 to 2016.
Early life and education
Albrecht was raised on a farm near Fremont ...
, former president of Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
, and Stephen D. Nadauld
Stephen Douglas Nadauld (born May 31, 1942) is an American academic, the former president of Dixie State University and Weber State University (WSU). Nadauld was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) f ...
, previous president of Dixie State University
Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is a public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers about 240 programs (4 master's degrees, 53 bachelor's degrees, 18 associate degrees, 45 ...
. The university also graduated Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
, Paul D. Boyer
Paul Delos Boyer (July 31, 1918 – June 2, 2018) was an American biochemist, analytical chemist, and a professor of chemistry at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research on the " enzy ...
. Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...
(inventor of the electronic television) received an honorary degree in 1967. Harvey Fletcher
Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 – July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. Known as the "father of stereophonic sound", he is credited with the invention of the 2-A audiometer and an early electronic hearing aid. He was an investigator in ...
(inventor of the hearing aid) is also a graduate of the university. Four of BYU's thirteen presidents were alumni of the university. Additionally, alumni of BYU who have served as business leaders include Gary Crittenden
Gary Lewis Crittenden (born 1953) is an American finance, financial manager. He is currently an executive director of HGGC, where he also previously served as CEO and chairman. He is also the former chairman of Citigroup#Citi Holdings, Citi Holdi ...
('76), former Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Kevin Rollins
Kevin Barney Rollins (born November 15, 1952) is an American businessman and philanthropist. The former President and CEO of Dell Inc., in 2006 Rollins was named by London's ''CBR'' as the 9th Most Influential person in the Enterprise IT sector. ...
('84), and Deseret Book
Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...
CEO Sheri L. Dew
Sheri Linn Dew (born November 21, 1953) is an American author, publisher, the executive vice president of Deseret Management Corporation, and chief executive officer of the Deseret Book Company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dew has als ...
.
In literature and journalism, BYU has produced several best-selling authors, including Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
('75), Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...
('00 & '05), Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 100 mill ...
('95) and Tara Westover
Tara Jane Westover (born September 27, 1986) is an American memoirist, essayist and historian. Her memoir '' Educated'' (2018) debuted at No. 1 on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list and was a finalist for a number of national awards, includin ...
('08). BYU also graduated American activist and contributor for ABC News Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Ann Gilmour (née Smart; born November 3, 1987) is an American child safety activist and commentator for ABC News. She gained national attention at age 14 when she was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City by Brian David Mitchell. ...
-Gilmour. Other media personalities include award-winning ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
sportscaster and former Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
Sharlene Wells Hawkes
Sharlene Wells (born 16 March 1964) is a Paraguayan-American author, singer, and reporter from Salt Lake City, Utah who was Miss America 1985. She worked with ESPN from 1987 to 2002 and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Defens ...
('86) and former co-host of CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
's ''The Early Show
''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday from ...
'' Jane Clayson Johnson
Jane Clayson Johnson (born April 25, 1967) is an American journalist and author.
Early life and career
Clayson was born in Sacramento, California, and spent most of her childhood there. She played with the Sacramento Youth Symphony and is an ac ...
('90).
In entertainment and television, BYU is represented by Johnny Whitaker
John Orson Whitaker, Jr. (born December 13, 1959) is an American actor notable for several film and television performances during his childhood. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on ''Family Affair'' from 1966 to 1971. He also originated ...
('86) (best known for his role as Jody in ''Family Affair
''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempte ...
)'', Jon Heder
Jonathan Joseph Heder (; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor, best known for his role as the title character of the 2004 comedy film ''Napoleon Dynamite''. He has also appeared in the films '' Just Like Heaven'', ''The Benchwarmers'', ''S ...
('02) (best known for his role as Napoleon Dynamite
''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy high- ...
), YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
and former NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
engineer Mark Rober
Mark B. Rober is an American YouTuber, engineer, inventor, and educator. He is known for his YouTube videos on popular science and do-it-yourself gadgets. Before YouTube, Rober was an engineer with NASA for nine years, where he spent seven y ...
('04), Golden Globe-nominated Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his hi ...
('94), animator and filmmaker Don Bluth
Donald Virgil Bluth (; born September 13, 1937) is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including ''The Secret of NIMH'' (1982), ''An American Tail'' (1986), ''Th ...
('54), ''Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'' " Greatest of All Time" champion, Ken Jennings
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,70 ...
('00), Academy Award-winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill
Kieth W. Merrill (born May 22, 1940) is an American filmmaker who has worked as a writer, director, and producer in the film industry since 1967. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America ...
('67), and Richard Dutcher
Richard Alan Dutcher (born 1964)Click "Biography" in the bottom-left of this web site: is an American independent filmmaker who produces, writes, directs, edits, and frequently stars in his films. After making '' God's Army'', a successful 2000 ...
, the "Father of Mormon Cinema
Mormon cinema usually refers to films with themes relevant to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term has also been used to refer to films that do not necessarily reflect Mormon themes but have been made ...
". In the music industry BYU is represented by lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons
Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. The band first gained exposure with the release of their sing ...
Dan Reynolds
Daniel Coulter Reynolds (born July 14, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Reynolds also released an EP in 2011, titled ''Egyptian – EP,'' as a duo with his former wife A ...
, multi-platinum selling drummer Elaine Bradley
Elaine Gabrielle Bradley (born October 19, 1984) is an American musician and songwriter, and the drummer for the American rock band Neon Trees. She has also hosted BYUtv's unscripted series ''Grace Notes'' since 2020.
Early life
Elaine Gabrie ...
from the band Neon Trees
Neon Trees is an American rock band from Provo, Utah. The band received nationwide exposure in late 2008 when they opened several North American tour dates for the band The Killers. Not long after, the band was signed by Mercury Records. Their fi ...
, chart-topping composer and violist Blake Allen
Blake Allen (born 1988) is an American composer and viola player who is most known for writing the shards of an honor code junkie, music directing the 2019 revival of Over Here!, a frequent collaborator with Tina Burner, Insomnia at Carnegie Hal ...
('10), crossover dubstep violinist Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007.
Stirling pe ...
, former ''American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' contestant Carmen Rasmusen
Carmen Rasmusen Herbert (born March 25, 1985) is a Canadian-American country music artist who ranked sixth on the second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003. Rasmusen also plays piano and guitar.
Early life
Rasmusen was born on March 25, 1985 in ...
, and Tabernacle Choir
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...
director Mack Wilberg
Mack J. Wilberg (born February 20, 1955) is an American composer, Arrangement, arranger, Conducting, conductor, and choral clinician who has been the music director of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (Choir) since 2008.
Early life and educ ...
.
BYU has also produced many religious leaders. Among the alumni are several Latter-day Saint General Authorities, including two Church Presidents: Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899 – May 30, 1994) was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and a ...
('26), and Thomas S. Monson
Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the re ...
('74), six Apostles (Neil L. Andersen
Neil Linden Andersen (born August 9, 1951) is an American religious leader and former business executive who serves as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was sustaine ...
, D. Todd Christofferson
David Todd Christofferson (born January 24, 1945) is an American religious leader and former lawyer who serves as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He has been a general ...
('69), David A. Bednar
David Allan Bednar (born June 15, 1952) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A former educator, Bednar was president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU–Idaho) fro ...
('76), Jeffrey R. Holland
Jeffrey Roy Holland (born December 3, 1940) is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the List of presidents of Brigham Young University, ninth President of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is a member of the Quorum of the Twe ...
('65 & '66), and Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin Harris Oaks (born August 12, 1932) is an American religious leader and former jurist and academic who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was ...
('54), and two General Presidents of the Relief Society
The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, and has more than 7 million members in over 18 ...
, Julie B. Beck
Julie Bangerter Beck (born September 29, 1954) was the fifteenth general president of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Granger, Utah, to William Grant Bangerter and Geral ...
('73) and Belle Spafford
Marion Isabelle Sims Spafford ( Smith; October 8, 1895 – February 2, 1982), known as Belle S. Spafford, was the ninth Relief Society General President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from April 6, 1945, unti ...
(1920).
A number of BYU alumni have found success in professional sports, representing the university in 7 MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, 5 NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
, and 25 NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
Super Bowls
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
. In baseball, BYU alumni include All-Stars Rick Aguilera
Richard Warren Aguilera (born December 31, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1985 to 2000. Aguilera won a world championship as a member of the N ...
('83), Wally Joyner
Wallace Keith Joyner (born June 16, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player. He played for four major league teams during a 16-year career, most notably for the California Angels, for whom he was an All-Star. He was a member of ...
('84), and Jack Morris
John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career.
Armed ...
, ('76). Professional basketball players include three-time NBA champion
The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Con ...
Danny Ainge
Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and former professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A three-sp ...
('81), 1952 NBA Rookie of the Year and 4-time NBA All-Star Mel Hutchins
Melvin Ray Hutchins (November 22, 1928 – December 19, 2018) was an American basketball player. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1951 to 1958. Hutchins was selected by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks with the ...
('51), three-time Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
medalist and Hall of Famer
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
Krešimir Ćosić
Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić (; 26 November 1948 – 25 May 1995) was a Croatian-Yugoslavian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and w ...
, ('73), NBA center Shawn Bradley
Shawn Paul Bradley (born March 22, 1972) is a German-American former professional basketball player who played center for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the ...
, and consensus 2011 national college player of the year Jimmer Fredette
James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. He last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. Fredette was the 2011 National Player of the Year in college ...
('11). BYU also claims notable professional football players including two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP and Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
Steve Young
Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...
('84) & J.D. ('96), Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner Ty Detmer
Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. Detme ...
('90), and two-time Super Bowl winners Jim McMahon
James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played college football at BYU, where he wa ...
and Kyle Van Noy
Kyle Van Noy (born March 26, 1991) is an American football linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). Van Noy played college football at BYU was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Detroi ...
. In golf, BYU alumni include two major championship winners: Johnny Miller
John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ra ...
('69) at the 1973 U.S. Open and 1976 British Open, and Mike Weir
Michael Richard Weir, (born May 12, 1970) is a Canadian professional golfer. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 110 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 2001 and 2005. He plays golf left-handed ...
('92) at the 2003 Masters.
See also
* List of colleges and universities in Utah
The following is a list of accredited colleges and universities in the U.S. state of Utah.
Public institutions
All public institutions in the state of Utah are managed by the Utah System of Higher Education, which consists of eight public college ...
Notes
References
External links
*
BYU Athletics website
{{good article
1903 establishments in Utah
Academic language institutions
Buildings and structures in Provo, Utah
Educational institutions established in 1903
University, Brigham Young
Private universities and colleges in Utah
Significant places in Mormonism
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah
Tourist attractions in Provo, Utah
Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Universities and colleges in Utah County, Utah