By CHERISE RICHARDS
The Emeritus Group of the BYU Alumni Association presents Emeritus Education Day, Saturday May 8 in the HFAC Madsen Recital Hall. Three speakers, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and professors David Galbraith and Daniel Peterson, will discuss Y2K issues and LDS Church research studies with Emeritus alumni.
The Emeritus group, with 25,000 members, is one of eight organizations that supports on-campus alumni activities as part of the BYU Alumni Association’s mission of building uncommon loyalty, support and service among alumni and friends of BYU. The Emeritus group consists of alumni who graduated 40 years ago or more, as well as retired faculty and administrators of BYU.
“Education Day brings alumni up-to-date on what’s going on and what we should do,” said Robert Driggs, President of the Alumni Association.
According to David Schultess, an Emeritus alumni, Sen. Bennett is vital to providing information on the Y2K problem. Bennett is serving as Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.
“[He] is in a key position to provide us with the progress being made with the Y2K problem,” Schultess said. “There is not a more informed member of Congress with his background on this subject.”
“Awareness: Understanding how serious the problem is, in fact, is our biggest challenge,” Bennett said in a July 15, 1998 speech to the National Press Club. “We can do a lot of things in the US Congress, but we cannot legislate that the year 2000 will not come. We cannot pass a law saying we will only allow the year 2000 to occur once these fixes have been made. So we have to do something very, very dramatic.”
David Galbraith, professor of political science at BYU will speak on “Mormons, Arabs and Jews: A shared Destiny.” Galbraith, a member of the team that developed plans for the Jerusalem Center, under the direction of the First Presidency, lived in Jerusalem for 20 years and spent 15 years serving as a director of the Jerusalem Study Abroad program. Now he teaches international organization, Middle East studies and conflict management classes at BYU.
Daniel Peterson, professor of Arabic and Near Eastern Studies at BYU also chairs the board of Trustees for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (F.A.R.M.S). Dr. Peterson will present “What Joseph Smith Did Not Know; Scientific Evidences for the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon.” He will reveal, according to his studies of the Book of Mormon, the history and implications of its content.
All Emeritus alumni are encouraged to attend. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The tickets are $11, which includes lunch. Please contact the Alumni House by Wednesday May 5 for more information or to reserve tickets, 378-7621.
