Thank you, Erica and Daniel, for the music, and to Aubrey, for the opening prayer.
So to begin, I want to take just a few minutes to talk first about a special event that happened yesterday that really captures the core of what this university is all about. So, as a part of this year's New Student Orientation, a special temple shift was organized to host our new students. After we coordinated with the temple presidency, Aaron Shumway and Daryl Whitford took on the task of recruiting volunteer ordinance workers and coordinating this special morning shift.
Not surprisingly, we also had a lot of student workers that volunteered to help. And I know you always see them when you go into the temple. So, it was great to have so many of them there to help with this.
We want to say a big thank you to Aaron and Daryl, and to Eddie Maiava and his NSO team for making this event possible. And as someone who was able to serve in the temple yesterday, I hope this will become a new tradition for our school.
In total, about 150 new students were able to participate in yesterday's temple visit and to worship together in the house of the Lord. And I can't think of a better way to welcome and to orient these students—these disciples of Christ—to our campus. So these new students—along with the student workers who helped in the temple yesterday—are examples of the "Genuine Gold" that President David O. McKay spoke of many years ago. President McKay said that this school will produce peacemakers and leaders of integrity for whom the world is in need. He called these students "genuine gold." Their time here is academically, socially, and spiritually strengthening.
Now, last year marked 150 years since President David O. McKay's birth and while a lot has changed since he broke ground here on the school in 1955, there is one thing that is remained constant–and that is the prophetic direction of this university. BYU–Hawaii was founded by a prophet—and is guided by a prophet today.
Now, as you are all aware, under President Kauwe's leadership—and with support from the Board of Trustees—our mission and vision statements were updated over these last few years. And I think we all know that these changes have really refocused the work here at BYU–Hawaii. It has been amazing to watch all of the changes, and we know all of the changes aren't done yet. So hold on, I guess. President Kauwe has been very clear that every decision that we make as a President's Council is dictated by our mission and our vision statements. And it's our hope that each of the programs and each department will continue to look for ways to better serve our students. We also ask that each of you refer back to the mission and vision statements often—and consider what you can do. What new things should we be doing, like the temple visit for our new students, that can provide a capstone experience that will better prepare our students to be disciples of Christ.
And with that, we all move on with our program to hear updates from Isaiah Walker, Academic Vice President. We next hear from Scott Stiles, Chief of Staff. And after that, Kevin Schlag, our Operations Vice President. After those messages, we will then hear from President Kauwe, and following President Kauwe's remarks, we will turn the remainder of our time to our special guests to Sister Caussé, and concluding speaker, Bishop Caussé.
Now by way of introduction, Bishop Gérald Caussé was named as presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 9, 2015. He is the third presiding bishop born outside of the United States, and the first for whom English is a second language.
Bishop Caussé received a master's degree in business. His career was in strategy consulting at Bain & Co in Paris and London, and in the food industry, working as the director of logistics and supply chain for Carrefour Group in France, and managing director for several foodservice companies. At the time of his call, as a General Authority Seventy for the church, he was the managing director of Pomona, a food distribution company in France.
Gérald Caussé was born in Bordeaux, France. He married Valérie Babin, and they are the parents of five children.
After Bishop Caussé's message, Ikaia Nawahine, Recruiting and Employment Manager, will offer a benediction. And as a reminder, we will have a faculty meeting here in the CAC immediately after this meeting. Now I will turn the time over to Vice President Walker for his remarks, and we all proceed through the program as outlined.