By Alice-Anne Lewis
Speaking at the Tuesday, Oct. 23 Devotional is the man who is helping Ricks College crawl into a new name and a four-year university status.
BYU-Idaho President David A. Bednar will give the Devotional address to students and faculty in the Marriott Center.
In 1997, the San Leandro, Calif. native was asked to be the president of the largest private junior college in the nation and an Area Authority Seventy.
In a recent BYU-Idaho Devotional President Bednar said he has met more than 12,000 students by hosting a weekly Monday night Family Home Evening.
For some BYU-I students this and other opportunities have given them a chance to know President Bednar on a personal level.
After having met and talked with President Bednar several times, Viola Surkova, 25, sophomore at BYU-I from Ukraine, majoring in advertising said she has observed how serious he takes his job.
“He”s a person who is a servant with a special work to do,” Surkova said.
Working hard is what President Bednar loves to do, Surkova said.
“He”s very concentrated on his work,” she said. “He”s a businessman and likes to get straight down to business.”
Business indeed.
President Bednar earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from BYU and his doctorate in organizational behavior from Purdue University.
He has taught business management at University of Arkansas and Texas Tech University.
While Surkova said she admires President Bednar”s attitude towards work, the BYU-I student said she is more inclined to talk with his wife, Susan.
“He”s strict and she”s open,” Surkova said.
Angela Coleby, 19, a sophomore at BYU-I from Salt Lake City majoring in math education said she has been impressed with President Bednar”s leadership abilities.
“He”s really inspired,” Coleby said. “He has his priorities set straight. He knows what”s best for our university and for students.”
About two years ago President Bednar gave a talk on faith that Coleby said touched her so much, she remembers even now what he said.
“I don”t usually remember things like that,” Coleby said.
The Devotional will begin at 11 a.m. It will be broadcast on KBYU.
