BYU

Elder Gonzalez to speak at BYU devotional

Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak at a Brigham Young University campus devotional Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center.

The devotional will be broadcast live on the BYU Broadcasting channels. Visit byub.org/devotionals or speeches.byu.edu for rebroadcast and archive information.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Gonzalez is presiding over church affairs in the Southern States. He was sustained a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the church in March 2001. He had previously served in the Fourth Quorum of the Seventy and as an Area Authority in the South America North Area.

Prior to these positions, Gonzalez was the director of the Church Education System for the South America North Area.

Gonzalez earned a law degree at Universidad de la Republica in Uruguay and studied economics at Universidad de la Fraternidad in Argentina. He also earned a technician's degree in business administration at Instituto CEMLAD in Ecuador and later, he received a bachelor of general studies degree from Indiana University.

Diplomacy and religion topic for BYU lecture

C. Randall Paul, founder and president of the Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy, will speak at a BYU David M. Kennedy Center lecture on Wednesday at noon in 238 Herald R. Clark Building.

Paul's lecture is "Peaceful Tension Through Respectful Contestation Between Trustworthy Opponents: A Social Psychological Approach to Diplomacy Between Religions."

He is currently completing two books, "Fighting about God: Why We Do It and How to Do It Better" and "Converting the Saints: An American Religious Conflict." He has also had a professional career in the commercial real estate business, receiving the Phoenix Skyline Award for Excellence. Paul received an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate from the University of Chicago.

This lecture will be archived online. For more information on events sponsored by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, see the calendar online at kennedy.byu.edu.

Coming Up

Today

CHRISTMAS BOOKTALK: The Annual Christmas Booktalk -- "Books for Christmas Giving" -- will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. in the BYU Bookstore main floor. The event is free and all attendees will receive a free book list. Janice Card is the presenter.

THURSDAY

NAN OSMOND GRASS LECTURE: Canadian author and critic Tim Wynne-Jones will be presenting "Between Belonging and Otherness: The Book as Passport" at the Annual Nan Osmond Grass Lecture sponsored by the BYU English Department at 11 a.m. in B-192 Joseph F. Smith Building.

AMERICAN STUDIES LECTURE: Rebecca de Schweinitz, a professor of history at BYU, will be presenting "Civil Rights Stories: Childhood, Brown and America's Struggle for Racial Equality" at an American Studies Lecture at 11 a.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.

NASA FILM SCREENING: "Blast!" the movie that tells the story of NASA's new telescope launched by a high-altitude balloon, will be screened at 5 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium. Admission is free.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

SELF-RELIANCE CONFERENCE: The BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance will be hosting the 12th Annual Economic Self-Reliance Conference, "Social Entrepreneurship and Self-Reliance," in the BYU Conference Center. Registration for the conference is $185. Registration discounts are available for large groups, BYU faculty and staff and college or high school students. For more information on the conference and to register, visit esrconference.byu.edu.

FRIDAY

COPYRIGHT PRESENTATION: Kenneth Crews, copyright scholar at Columbia University, will discuss "Navigating through the Copyright Maze: Basics and Beyond," from 9 a.m. to noon in the Assembly Hall of the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center. This workshop will address copyright issues particular to library and higher education settings. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions and prepare for a lively discussion of the importance of copyright to their work. For more information, contact Susie Quartey at (801) 422-4467.

EUROPEAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM: The David M. Kennedy Center will be hosting a European Studies Symposium, "Berlin," from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building. For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652.

SPEED DATING: Women's Services and Resources will host "Speed Dating" at 6:30 p.m. in the Garden Court of the Wilkinson Student Center. Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend. For more information, visit wsr.byu.edu.

UVU

Student newspaper to host mayoral debate

Students from the UVU Review, Utah Valley University's student newspaper, will moderate a debate between incumbent mayoral candidate Jerry Washburn and challenger Philip Hornberger on the eve of local elections in Orem next week.

Organized by the UVU Student Association (UVUSA), the debate will take place at 1 p.m. today in the Ragan Theater. The debate is open to members of the community as well as students and is free to attend. Orem residents will head to the polls the next day to elect a mayor and three city council members.

"We're always looking for ways to get students more involved in the civic process, and we thought a debate on campus could help get students out to vote," said UVUSA Chief Justice Christina Lowe.

While university campuses are known for their fervor during election season, that excitement tends to be confined to large national races in major election years, Lowe said. Local elections, despite the fact that they potentially have the most impact on students' daily lives, generate a muted response.

"You see, the students, if they do watch the news, they watch CNN," Lowe said. "But we don't even have a news station for Orem."

Though she hadn't seen the list of questions for Washburn and Hornberger yet, Lowe speculated that infrastructure, traffic and budgetary questions would be on the docket for the candidates. Recently, UVUSA held a voter registration drive on campus that registered about 150 students over three days, though Lowe said not all of them live and vote in Orem. But regardless of their residence, UVU students are vested in the outcome of the mayoral race.

"Even if they don't live in Orem, the debate is relevant because UVU is in Orem City and decisions made by city politicians affect students," Lowe said.

UVU to host conference for administrators

UVU will host its second annual policy conference, "Best Practices in Policy Management," from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Sorensen Student Center. The 2009 conference's theme is "The Value of a Strong Policy Process in Turbulent Times" and is hosted by the Office of Planning & Budget and the Office of Institutional Compliance & Policy.

"Because of the topic, this conference is very timely for general administrators concerned about the latest legal trends in higher education and impact of the new administration on higher education policy," said Linda Makin, UVU's executive director of planning and budget.

The event is headlined by a keynote speech from Beverly Ledbetter, a respected expert on higher education law and the vice president and general counsel at Brown University in Rhode Island. She is also a faculty member at Harvard University and a past president of the National Association of College Attorneys.

"Beverly Ledbetter is an outstanding, dynamic keynote speaker," Makin said. "To have her at this event is a great opportunity."

Former Utah Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Kendall will speak during the conference's afternoon session on "The Impact of Obama's Administration on Higher Education Policy."

Makin said that the event is tailored for any higher education administrators or faculty members involved in policy processes at colleges and universities around the state. She said that UVU's ongoing policy review pointed to the need for identifying and modeling best practices in policy and policy process.To register for the conference, call the UVU Policy Office at (801) 863-8245 or visit www.uvu.edu/ce/cw/.

UVU expands study abroad program

With an increasingly competitive job market in the modern global economy, UVU students now have a few more options to get a leg up on the competition and expand their education thanks to a pair of new study abroad opportunities. New programs in Russia and Brazil will take more than 20 students to two of the world's biggest economic powers to improve their language skills and get a handle on the culture.

"We have faculty who want to give their students that international experience," said Grant Skabelund, the director of UVU's International Study Programs. "That's the key with any program, to have faculty who are willing to put in the time to make that happen. That's why we're everywhere we are in the world."

In all, UVU has about a dozen options for students to pursue during a portion of their summer break, ranging from art history in Italy to digital media in Namibia. And as student awareness and interest increases, Skabelund said the options are growing at a brisk pace. A Germany program launched in the summer of 2009 and for 2010, trips to Brazil and Russia will provide the first opportunities for UVU-sponsored learning in those countries.

Both the Russia and Brazil programs are language-based, and students on both of the four-week trips will take intensive language courses at universities in Moscow and Florianopolis, respectively. Students in both programs will also spend time taking in some of the cultural attractions of both countries and getting a feel for daily life abroad, if they haven't already.

"Our community here at UVU has lots of students who have served an LDS mission in Brazil, so you served a mission there or know someone who did, so there's a strong connection," said UVU Portuguese professor Debora Ferreira. "We have a good mix of missionaries and people who have never been who are interested."

Ferreira said the Brazil program will also feature a service learning component, as UVU students will have the chance to help Brazilian college students with their conversational English while they're in Florianopolis.

"They have Brazilian students who will work as English teachers or translating or interpreting and some of those students don't have the opportunity to study in English-speaking countries," she said. "It will help our students with Portuguese as well."

In Russia, students will study at Moscow State University, which occupies a lofty perch above the country's capital city. Students will focus on language skills in the mornings with cultural study filling the afternoons.

"Students have the great advantage of being taught by professors of Russian and Russian studies who specialize in teaching their native language as a second language," said UVU Russian teacher Marina Panina. "Students gain competence more swiftly than they could imagine."

The trips will take place in May and June of 2010. The early deadline to sign up and still receive a $300 discount is Dec. 18. For more information on both programs, visit www.uvu.edu/international/isp.