BYU Message Themes
To help apply the BYU message, strategy, mission, and aims, the BYU Strategic Communications Committee has identified four themes that convey key concepts. These themes can help you remember the message and more easily use it in planning communications of representing the university in other ways. Below are brief summaries of each theme; for more context, perspective, and resources, visit brand.byu.edu/message
1. Full Divine Potential
At BYU, helping students to develop their full divine potential is central to both our teaching and our scholarship.
Becoming BYU
Strengthen the Student Experience
Retain a Focus on Undergraduate Teaching
“The mission of this university is to help our students succeed—temporally and spiritually, in school and in life, and in time and in eternity.”
—President C. Shane Reese,
“Quick to Observe,” BYU university conference, August 28, 2023
2. By Study and By Faith
At BYU, belief enhances inquiry, study amplifies faith, and revelation leads to deeper understanding.
Becoming BYU
Foster BYU's "Double Heritage"
Develop the Courage to Be Different
“Education on this campus deliberately and persistently concerns itself with ‘education for eternity,’ not just for time. The faculty has a double heritage that they must pass along: the secular knowledge that history has washed to the feet of mankind along with the new knowledge brought by scholarly research, and also the vital and revealed truths that have been sent to us from heaven.”
—President Spencer W. Kimball,
“The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” BYU centennial address, October 10, 1975
3. Go Forth to Serve
As disciples of Jesus Christ, BYU graduates are motivated by love for God and His children and are prepared to serve, lift, and lead.
Becoming BYU
Build a Covenant Community
“Students who understand their identity as children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ instinctively recognize their covenantal responsibility to help their fellow human beings.”
—President C. Shane Reese,
“Quick to Observe,” BYU university conference, August 28, 2023
4. A Unique Light
BYU strives to emit a unique light that will enable BYU to be counted among the exceptional universities in the world and to be an essential example for the world.
Becoming BYU
Invest in Mission-Inspired Scholarship
Focus on Mission-Aligned Hiring
“[I] firmly believe that it is the destiny of Brigham Young University to become what those prophetic statements predicted it would become. But inherent in being the University of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the reality that this great goal will not be attained in exactly the same way that other universities have achieved their greatness. With your help, it will become the great university of the Lord—not in the world’s way but in the Lord’s way.”
—President Dallin H. Oaks,
“It Hasn’t Been Easy and It Won’t Get Easier,” BYU leadership conference,
August 25, 2014
