Brigham Young University–Idaho

Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU–Idaho or BYU–I) is a private college in Rexburg, Idaho. Founded in 1888, the college is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Previously known as Ricks College, it transitioned from a junior college to a baccalaureate institution in 2001.

BYU-Idaho offers programs in the sciences, engineering, agriculture, management, and performing arts. The university is broadly organized into 33 departments within six colleges and its parent organization, the Church Educational System (CES), sponsors sister schools in Utah and Hawaii. The college's focus is on undergraduate education, hosting 26 certificate, 20 associate, and over 87 bachelor's degree programs. It operates on a three-semester system also known as "tracks."

Students attending BYU agree to follow an honor code that mandates behavior in line with LDS teachings, such as academic honesty, adherence to dress and grooming standards (which includes rules against wearing shorts and men having beards), abstinence from extramarital sex and homosexual behavior, and no consumption of illegal drugs, coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco. Approximately 99% of the college's students are members of the LDS Church and a significant percentage of the student body take an 18- (women) or 24-month (men) hiatus from their studies to serve as missionaries. Tuition rates are generally lower than those at similar universities, due largely to funding provided by the church from tithing donations.

History

The Bannock and Fremont Stake Academies

On November 12, 1888, the LDS Church created the Bannock Stake Academy in Rexburg. The precursor to BYU-Idaho, like several other colleges and universities across the mountain west, was established as a " stake academy" first, as Mormon settlers colonized the eastern Snake River Plain in the 1880s. As a stake academy, its purpose was that of a modern secondary school as public schools had not yet been established. As the population grew, it became necessary to divide the geographical area designated by the Church as the Bannock Stake. The Fremont Stake was created, and thus in 1898 the school was renamed the Fremont Stake Academy.

Ricks College

In 1903, the school was renamed again as Ricks Academy in honor of Thomas Ricks, the president of the LDS Church's Bannock Stake at the time it was founded and the chairman of the school's first Board of Education. By the early twentieth century, stake academies had largely been discontinued as public schools became more established in the western United States. Ricks Academy survived as it had added a year of college work to its curriculum and in 1917 was granted state certification, which allowed graduates to teach in the state of Idaho. At that point, it was known as Ricks Normal College with George S. Romney as its first president. In 1923, it was renamed Ricks College and functioned as a two-year junior college. It would serve as a junior college for most of the remainder of the twentieth century, except for a brief period from 1948 to 1956 when it operated as a four-year institution.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the LDS Church began to close, or hand over, its academies to state governments because of better established public education and economic strains on the church. Ricks College was offered as a gift from the church to the state of Idaho at the 1931 legislative session, but was rejected. Bills handing over Ricks College to the state of Idaho were presented at three more legislative sessions, (1933, 1935, 1937), but all were rejected. After almost a decade of facing closure, the church decided to keep Ricks College open. The college emerged with the support of local patrons and accreditation by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges in 1936.

The 1950s brought renewed consideration of closing the college and possibly moving it. However, church president David O. McKay decided against this course of action after a visit to the campus. During the 1976 Teton Dam flood, Ricks College was used as a center for disaster relief operations. By the late twentieth century, the college had become the largest private junior college in the country with over 7,500 students.

BYU-Idaho

On June 21, 2000, the LDS Church announced that Ricks College would become a four-year institution known as Brigham Young University–Idaho. This change became official just over a year later on August 10, 2001. Among the changes were the elimination of the intercollegiate athletic program and the institution of a larger activities and intramural athletics program. The college also established a "three-track" system which admits students on a specific track of two semesters (including the Spring semester) rather than the standard fall and winter semesters. Among other changes to campus facilities to accommodate the associated growth, the Hyrum Manwaring Student Center was renovated and enlarged and a new auditorium building, the BYU–Idaho Center, with seating for 15,000 was built. The buildings were dedicated in December 2010.

Campus

The campus sits on a hill overlooking the city of Rexburg and the Snake River Valley and includes nearly forty major buildings and residence halls on over . Off-campus facilities include a Livestock Center and the Henry's Fork Outdoor Learning Center near Rexburg. The Teton Lodge and Quickwater Lodge near Victor, Idaho

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