Pure Hearts, Firm Minds | C. Shane Reese | August 2026

Now, this semester marks the official start of, of the second half of Brigham Young University's second century.

We've been talking about it for a long time.

The clock has turned, and our new Carillon Bell has literally chimed.

It's truly a special moment in the history of BYU.

But we- before we fully turn the page on our sesquicentennial, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on the undeniable momentum that each of you has helped to build this past year.

There were tens of thousands of hours of service.

Just about every campus unit participated in the Beacons of Light celebrations, showcasing the unique contributions from each area and discipline across this incredible campus.

We reached more than two million people through the BYU 150 celebration, and we've e- even exceeded the number of pins we thought we'd hand out this year by no less than twenty thousand.

That's a vast underestimate.

[laughing] It's no surprise that the demand for these pins skyrocketed after President Oaks gave a public shout-out in his own BYU-- to his o- own BYU 150 lapel pin during his unforget- forgettable devotional in January.

This incredible momentum built over, up over this last year will not be lost or wasted.

It will indeed propel us forward into the second half of the second century.

And I'll mention today just a few of the many areas where I've seen progress across the university.

We're moving forward in establishing the university's poverty alleviation initiative, and progress continues with the development of a new general education proposal.

Vice President Collings will talk about that later in the faculty session.

There is superb work in the areas of mission-inspired scholarship, including the commendable efforts by faculty, galvanized by Elder Gerrit W. Gong's call to ensure artificial intelligence treats religion accurately and people of faith with dignity.

Alongside colleagues from Baylor, Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Yeshiva, and others, BYU is now a part of the recently announced Consortium for Evaluation of Faith and Ethics in AI.

I see this consortium and so many others across our campus as helping to fulfill President Kimball's words that, quote, "You will also do some special things at BYU that are left undone by other institutions." Close quote.