Brigham Young University will never get old—especially when Young is part of its name. But in 2025 the university hits a particularly venerable milestone: its sesquicentennial.
In the upcoming months, students, faculty, staff, and alumni will gather—both on and off campus—to celebrate 150 years of combining secular and spiritual learning, conducting impactful research, and sending graduates out in the world to serve.
“I want you to begin to feel the excitement about this important mark in time as we begin this 150th year,” remarked BYU President C. Shane Reese at a campus devotional early this year. “As we approach this milestone in our history, we want to focus on the light with which you all shine as we look forward to this next chapter in BYU’s history. And we will do so by saying, ‘That light groweth brighter and brighter’—‘that all may be edified of all.’”1
BYU Marriott will join the campus community in festivities that honor BYU’s past, celebrate its present, and look forward to its future. After all, you only turn 150 years young once.
Gifts of Light
The tagline of BYU’s sesquicentennial—Celebrating Gifts of Light—underscores the ways that people not only share the light of Jesus Christ but also receive it in their lives.
At BYU’s centennial celebration in 1975, President Spencer W. Kimball acknowledged the university’s distinct gifts of light. He explained, “There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities—not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus but because of the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world.”2
President Kimball had a strong vision of what the future of BYU should look like, “but we’re the ones who get to implement it,” says BYU Marriott Dean Brigitte Madrian. “Visions don’t make themselves happen. Visions happen because people work hard to make them happen.”
The Tanner Building itself embodies light, Madrian points out. “At the business school, we’re in a building with a huge atrium, and we benefit from all the natural light that comes in,” she says. “Light is part of our environment when we come to work, to teach classes, or to study every day.”
In addition to being housed in a space full of light, BYU Marriott builds upon the university’s divinely inspired mission through seeking, connecting, and sharing light.
Seeking Light
“I love research because it increases our knowledge and understanding of the world,” says Ryan Elder, chair of the Department of Marketing and Global Supply Chain. “At BYU specifically, it’s a search for light and truth.”
Knowledge generation at BYU is often big-picture oriented, Elder notes. “A lot of the research that goes on here asks, ‘How do I bless the lives of God’s children? How do I uncover these truths that ultimately help people?’”
This broad focus is the gift professors are giving back to society. “When we think about BYU’s mission, we’re looking at radiating truth in a world that needs this type of clarity and understanding,” Elder says.
The research process can also have consequences for the students involved. “The aha moments that you share are rewarding and could potentially change the students’ career trajectory,” Elder says.
Seeking truth is a fully active process, Elder continues, that leads to discoveries that help us understand the world a little bit better. “A university exists to advance knowledge, to create new knowledge, and to disseminate that knowledge,” he says. “Some of the best researchers we have on campus—especially at BYU Marriott—are also our best teachers because they’re motivated to share these new and exciting findings with students.”
Connecting Light
For the last decade, Steven Fox has been “fascinated with light,” studying the topic in the scriptures and in other writings. “Light has a greater impact upon us than we think,” says Fox, a manager in the Ballard Center for Social Impact. “I’m not sure there’s a huge difference between the sunlight in the sky and the light that we feel when we belong and appreciate and love each other—maybe it’s one and the same.”
Fox explains that the Ballard Center’s motto—“Do good. Better.”—is about creating lasting light in the world. “Christ created a community, and if we purport to be disciples of Christ, we should learn the skills of developing community,” he says. “Putting them into practice can be difficult, but it’s well worth the effort to create a community of belonging and respect.”
Every week, Fox hosts experts from social impact organizations who visit his class to share insights about community building. “It’s one of the best parts of my job,” he says.
Fox also proactively looks for meaningful opportunities to add value and build community in his classroom by maximizing diversity. “It’s incumbent upon BYU employees—whether we’re teaching or are in an administrative role—to see what diverse elements people bring to the table for the benefit of all,” he says.
At a BYU devotional in 2022, Steven J. Lund, Young Men general president, spoke about “flashes of light”—which he defined as “flickering assurances of God’s love”3—and Fox found himself inspired by that verbiage. “I’ve been given a unique opportunity to engage with students at BYU,” he acknowledges. “I view it as my blessing, opportunity, and obligation to provide meaningful flashes of light in their day.”
Light should permeate every part of our lives, Fox says. “I want to be one who shares light and receives light and views it in such a very positive way. I’m grateful for light and am looking forward to the day that I understand it even better.”
Sharing Light
One important aspect of becoming a Christlike leader, Madrian says, is the word becoming. “It’s not something we’re going to achieve in this lifetime,” she says. “It’s a process of repentance in the broadest, most wonderful sense of that word. As BYU’s business school, we influence the world for good by encouraging people to have the aspiration, the confidence, and the desire to become Christlike leaders.”
Light is a transformational force, Madrian explains. “The light of Christ giveth life to all things. It enlightens our minds and quickens our understanding,” she says. “To transform the world through Christlike leadership is to transform the world through ‘Christ-light’ leadership—by leading with and through the light and power of Jesus Christ.”
Madrian points to BYU Marriott Professor Kim Clark’s research on disciple-leadership, specifically, the activities and behaviors Clark has identified that generate darkness or light in an organization.4 “When people are operating in a dark organizational environment, they don’t feel safe to do their best work and are constantly second-guessing themselves,” Madrian says. “You end up with organizations and employees who can’t meet their potential.”
And that’s where BYU Marriott alumni come in. “We want our students to graduate as beacons of light,” Madrian says. “They share their light through the way that they lead in organizations, whether in a formal leadership position or by informally exerting influence in whatever they’re doing.”
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Written by Emily Edmonds
Photos by Bradley Slade and BYU Photo
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Centenarian Celebrations
BYU and its entities will host several birthday-related activities and campaigns. Details about the worldwide events are posted online at 150.byu.edu, and information will also be disseminated through the sponsoring programs and centers.
In particular, the BYU community is inviting alumni, students, and friends to participate in a service campaign that began in August 2025 and runs through April 2026. Those who log volunteer hours---up to 150---earn various gifts (it is a birthday celebration, after all). For more details, visit 150.byu.edu/service.
“There are so many exciting things that are going to be happening over the course of the next several months in conjunction with the university’s sesquicentennial,” Madrian says. “I would love to extend an invitation to all of our alumni and friends to watch for opportunities and ways that you can engage with these celebratory activities and be a beacon of light in your own little corner of the world.”
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Notes
- C. Shane Reese, “God Loves Underdogs,” BYU devotional address, January 14, 2025, speeches.byu.edu/talks/c-shane-reese/god-loves-underdogs/; quoting Doctrine and Covenants 50:24; 88:122.
- Spencer W. Kimball, “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” BYU devotional address, October 10, 1975, speeches.byu.edu/talks/spencer-w-kimball/second-century-brigham-young-university/.
- Steven J. Lund, “Flashes of Light,” BYU devotional address, September 20, 2022, speeches.byu.edu/talks/steven-j-lund/flashes-of-light/.
- See Kim B. Clark, “Becoming a Disciple-Leader,” Marriott Alumni Magazine, Fall 2022, 10–16; marriott.byu.edu/magazine/feature/becoming-a-disciple-leader.
