C a l e n d a r  | J u ly 1 4 - 2 2

14   • Summer Jazz Fest with Conrad Herwig

22   • Commencement, Paul K. Sybrowsky

a n n O U n C e M e n T S

retirement reception

After 30 years of dedicated service to BYU-Idaho, 

Sharon Tuckett is retiring. Please come celebrate 

her next adventure in life. We will be holding a 

retirement reception July 14, from 2-4 p.m., in the 

Taylor Cultural Hall. 

Job Openings

Project Coordinator (University Communications); 

Technology Engineer (IT); Admissions Specialist; 

and Financial Aid Advisor. 

last edition

This is the last edition of News & Notes for the 

Spring Semester. News & Notes will resume begin-

ning in the fall.

B Y U – I d a H O n e w S & n O T e S | 1

While trying to utilize the best components of both the classroom and online environments, BYU-Idaho is placing new emphasis on hybrid courses.

A hybrid course is a learning initiative that combines traditional classroom instruction and innovative online activities. Hybrid classes usually meet once a week for normal classroom activities, with the remainder of the course conducted online through discussion boards and other interactive methods.

“There is tremendous potential to learn with hybrid courses,” said Bruce Kusch, associate academic vice president of curriculum. “Hybrid courses are affecting education in a positive way and are becoming more popular with students and faculty every semester.”

Hybrid courses contain a couple of key benefits: They promote deep student learning, and they enhance individual and interactive learning that would otherwise not be available in the classroom.

Presently, faculty members who wish to teach a hybrid course are developing the course on their own. A hybrid course committee, headed by Kusch, is currently looking at developing guidelines and principles to assist faculty members in converting a given course to a hybrid version. “Deans and department chairs will work with their faculty to develop hybrid courses. As courses are reviewed they can be designated as an approved hybrid course,” said Kusch.

Students generally have favorable impressions of hybrid courses. “I have taken two hybrid courses. They allow you to be more responsible and allow you to learn in a different way,” said Nikhil Chabra, a junior studying communication.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, “The hybrid course design has the potential to enable instructors to offer students a greater range of learning avenues and uphold educational and academic design standards.” Technology is changing fast, along with education. Hybrid courses are one of the newest trends in education and so far have had good feedback. “This effort is first and foremost about student learning. We believe that over time students and faculty will recognize that this is one of the best ways to learn,” said Kusch.

BYU-Idaho is currently focusing on night school as a launching pad for hybrid courses.by Scott Haycock

Education goes hybrid

J U l Y 1 4 , 2 0 1 1

NEWS &  NOTESe M P l O Y e e a n d r e T I r e e n e w S l e T T e r

2 | B Y U – I d a H O n e w S & n O T e S

The BeTa experience: One office’s journey to BYU-Idaho’s new website

Housing and Student Living was the first office to officially transfer to the BETA website (found at http://beta.byui.edu/housing). And thanks to the flexibility of Web Builder, the new system BETA runs on, they have implemented several features to their site including live Facebook updates, audience pages, and personalized rotating web banners. They have used these features to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their webpage.

“Our old site was a collection of links. Current students knew where to go, but new students couldn’t find what they needed. With the new site we are able to organize the information better so it is very easy to use,” said James Valentine, student communication specialist in Housing and Student Living.

By being more user friendly and having visual consistency, managers of the BETA website hope that site developers can focus on what matters most: great content. “By focusing our attention on content, we were able to assess what our priorities were. We then took our priorities and established a basic structure,” said Valentine.

Forty offices and departments are currently transferring their content to the new site, and seven more are being introduced soon. “The BETA stage will last approximately 8-12 months, but the process of improving the byui.edu website will never end,” said Andrew Jensen, project manager of the BETA website.

Some of the new features in BETA:

audience PagesAudience pages are beneficial because they present relevant information for specific audiences. For example, students who are looking into on-campus housing will have a direct link to where they need to go. Each link will have messages and information tailored to each audience. You can choose to customize this tool for the benefit of your individual audiences.

rotating advertisementsThe personalized rotating banner is included on one of the standard templates you can use to build your website. With a rotating banner, Housing and Student Living promotes important news and information to its audiences. Having the ability to design your own ads and place them at your discretion will help you address students’ needs in a timely manner.

Facebook UpdatesDo you have a department/office Facebook page? Students navigating your site can now see your most recent posts to Facebook without even leaving your webpage. This will help drive more people to your Facebook page, making your posts more meaningful and lucrative.

by Scott Haycock

B Y U – I d a H O n e w S & n O T e S | 3

C O M M e n C e M e n T Pre v Ie w

PAUl K. SYBrOWSKY

Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky was sustained as 

a member of the Second Quorum of the 

Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of 

latter-day Saints on April 2, 2005. He has 

served as a counselor in the Australia Area 

Presidency, as well as the president of 

that area. Since August 2008 he has been 

assigned to serve in Salt lake City and 

serves as an assistant executive director 

in the Church History and Audiovisual 

Departments.

Elder Sybrowsky began his university 

education at the Church College of Hawaii 

and then received a Bachelor of Science 

degree in social science from Brigham 

Young University in 1968. His professional 

career included numerous business 

management positions and entrepreneurial 

ventures. Most notably, he was the general 

manager of Canada and Europe for ADP 

Dealer Services and the founding partner 

and president of Dynix library Systems.

Elder Sybrowsky has also served in 

various trustee, board, and civic positions, 

including the BYU President’s leadership 

Council, the Northwest Commission for 

Colleges and Universities, and chair of 

the Board of Trustees of Utah Valley 

State College. He was honored as Utah’s 

Small Businessman of the Year and as 

Entrepreneur of the Year in the field of 

technology.

Prior to his call as a General Authority, 

Elder Sybrowsky served the Church as  

president of the Canada Toronto West 

Mission (2001-2004). He also served as 

a young missionary in the Canada Toronto 

Mission (1964-1966). In addition, during 

his many years of Church activity, he 

served as bishop, high councilor, stake 

president’s counselor, and stake president. 

Team attends international agribusiness conferenceStanding beside researchers and executives from around the world including Holland, Germany, China, India, and New Zealand, were five BYU-Idaho representatives last month at the International Food Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) annual symposium and forum. Three faculty members and two students from the Department of Agribusiness, Plant and Animal Sciences attended the conference, held in Frankfurt, Germany, in order to expand their network and to promote the development of BYU-Idaho’s international agribusiness program.

In addition to attending the conference in Germany, the BYU-Idaho team also traveled through Ukraine conducting research and meeting with top agricultural schools. “It was a unique opportunity for our school to further establish itself on an international front,” said Jeremy Slade, one of the faculty members who attended the trip. “We hope to continue to expand our international network in order to help BYU-Idaho students gain internships and attend graduate schools in other countries.” While in Ukraine the team toured different agribusinesses gaining valuable insight into the complexity of the global food value chain, including food production, processing, and marketing.

new Marriage & Family Studies degree offeredBYU-Idaho will offer a new Bachelor of Science degree in Marriage and Family Studies beginning in the 2011-12 academic year. This new degree has been a minor in the Department of Home and Family since 2001. Those studying Marriage and Family Studies will specialize in one of three areas: professional general, professional clinical, and home and family living.

Instructor teaches at top school in BrazilExcitement fills the air as students file into the classroom. Ferron Sonderegger, of the Department of Health, Recreation, & Human Performance, looks over his notes a final time before starting a lecture on athletics at the university level in the United States. However this isn’t his typical classroom; Sonderegger is guest teaching at the Escola Superior de Educacao Fisica (ESEF) in Jundiai, Brazil.

Located in the state of Sao Paulo, ESEF is one of the most recognized physical education schools in Brazil. Sonderegger was invited to teach seven lectures and demonstrations on various physical education subjects. “Being able to travel to Brazil and teach the people in Portuguese was a unique opportunity for me. I was able to teach students of all levels and educate professors on many exercise and sports science topics.” Sonderegger hopes to return to Brazil in the future and continue to teach the people of Jundiai.by Scott Haycock

UnIverSITY newS BrIeFS

F O r S a l e

12 sheep for sale, Dorper cross ewes, $100 each,  

ready to breed this fall, weed and pasture control 

with no shearing. Contact the livestock Center at 

496-4532. 

Wedding dress, elegant and simple. Asking $195. 

Call or text Ashlee at 801-427-2716. 

correc t i on

In last week’s “From Fitness to Wellness” article, 

it was reported that employees and spouses can 

earn up to $200 each year by completing wellness 

challenges. To clarify, the award is comprised 

of $150 for successfully completing at least 80 

percent of all six two-month challenges ($25 per 

challenge), plus a $50 dollar award for completing 

a personal health assessment online. Also, it was 

reported that one of the wellness challenges is to 

exercise for 30 minutes per week, but the actual 

challenge is to exercise for 30 minutes per day, 

five days a week along with completing one of 13 

health goals such as eating a healthy breakfast, 

getting adequate sleep, or kicking the sugar habit.

4 | B Y U – I d a H O n e w S & n O T e S

eMPlOYee PrOFIle

rita ricksFoundations AdministrationOffice Assistant

The water ripples as makeshift boats are placed in the canal. The patriarchs of the family lay on their stomachs to steady the boats as a youngster yells, “Ready, set, GO!” The boats are set afloat and the children run along the canal following the boats waiting to see whose will cross the finish line first and become this year’s winner of the annual Ricks boat regatta. “The Fourth of the July is bigger than Christmas or Thanksgiving at our house,” said Rita Ricks, Foundations office assistant. “The entire family looks forward to the boat race every year, all participating in the construction of the boats.”

In addition to organizing the activities of their family reunion and spending time with her six children and 14 grandchildren, Rita loves to landscape.

After growing up in the lush forests of western Pennsylvania, she has longed for more trees. Using memories from home she has landscaped her own yard, covering it with tall lush trees, pebbled pathways, and colorful flowers.

“Life has seemed to lead me to Idaho,” said Rita. At the age of eleven, Rita, her parents, and brother were baptized into the Church. Following their baptism the family was able to follow the trail of the pioneers and make their way to the Idaho Falls temple, the closest temple at the time, to be sealed for time and all eternity. In the years to come she was accepted to Ricks College, where she graduated and met her husband, Blaine. She later studied Business Management and earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU-Idaho.

Industry honors engineering studentsDuring a recent visit to BYU-Idaho, Pocatello technology firm ON Semiconductor awarded student interns from the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering a congratulatory plaque for their help in “improving product cost and reliability in numerous integrated circuit technologies.”

The interns developed improvements to the structure of computer chips, saving both space and money. The findings co-authored by the interns were presented by ON Semiconductor engineer Stevan Hunter on June 13 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

conference in San Diego, Calif. The paper, “Use of Harsh Wafer Probing to Evaluate Various Bond Pad Structures,” received the Best New Data award from a committee comprised of representatives from TI, Micron, NXP, Intel, and other companies.

“It’s really gratifying to have these students accomplish something so meaningful within the industry,” said Eric Karl, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. “This is truly the application of key principles learned in their courses.”

by Stephen Henderson

News & NotesA weekly publication of University Communications

a d v I S O r  Andy Cargalw r I T e r S  Scott Haycock, Stephen Henderson, Colleen Johnson, Kim SummersPHOTOgraPHerS Michael lewis, Doug McKay

If you have any ideas for future issues, please e-mailnewsdesk@byui.edu

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