Merrill J. Bateman's presidency at Brigham Young University will be remembered for several accomplishments:
It is plain Bateman is most proud and excited about BYU's mentored-learning program. The new emphasis provides many BYU juniors and seniors with the kind of professor-student research partnerships usually reserved for graduate school.
"I think we're taking learning to a whole new level at the university," Bateman said. "The quality of our students justifies it, the quality of our faculty allows it. Some small private universities are doing it, but to do it on the scale we're doing it is remarkable."
He also betrayed pride in the distance learning program that "last year had 125,000 enrollments in 43 countries studying with us online." It's clear he hopes the program eventually reaches his goal of 250,000 enrollments.
Some sorely needed facilities were built or announced during the Bateman years. The Joseph F. Smith Building is being replaced. The library was expanded. An indoor practice facility for the football team is under construction. Bateman also has pushed BYU to upgrade its technology.
The former business executive helped BYU pay for those and other projects by overseeing the largest
capital campaign in BYU's history — it raised $413 million and has since been supplemented by another $150 million as well as a $313 million technology grant from automotive and technology companies.
He also instituted a resource planning process that forces departments to consider cuts when they want to add new programs or personnel. Bateman said the school now reallocates $5 million to $7 million each year.
He's interested in seeing the fruition of a dream for a student village south of campus along 800 North. The plans, known by the unwieldy acronym SCAMP, are on hold because of the poor economy, he said, but he sees them as a potential answer for students as on-campus housing complexes continue to age. "Heritage Halls are near the end," he said. "They are 50 years old, built right after World War II. It's a great concept, but I can see the day when that or part of the on-campus freshman housing comes down."
Bateman and University of Utah president Bernie Machen spearheaded the formation of the Mountain West Conference in 1998. They invited three other presidents from schools in the 16-member Western Athletic Conference to a meeting at Denver's airport and hammered out the basics of an eight-team conference that stabilized long-standing rivalries and reduced costs.
"Not much money was coming in, and it was being stretched 16 ways," Bateman said. "The new conference increased television revenue, and it only had to be split eight ways. . . . It was the right move."
BYU significantly subsidized the Provo Angels, a minor league baseball team playing its third season at BYU's Miller Field, so it could remain in town while the city attempts to raise money for another stadium.
— Tad Walch