Church College of Hawaii Becomes BYU Campus

In a move to tap the resources of Brigham Young University to serve the students at the Church College of Hawaii (CCH), the Hawaii campus is to become a branch of BYU. The change, to become effective no later than September 1, 1974, was announced at recent CCH commencement exercises.

To be known as Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus, the college will be headed by Dr. Dan W. Andersen who has served as academic dean since early 1973. As dean of the newly named college, he will serve under Dr. Dallin H. Oaks, president of BYU.

In explaining the change of status for the college, Dr. Kenneth Beesley, an associate commissioner of the Church Education System, said:

“As the role of the Church College of Hawaii has been, reviewed and clarified, and especially as greater emphasis has been placed on in-country education, the need for increased availability of resources and greater facility in interchangeability of faculty and staff has been evident. This change will allow the tapping of the appropriate resources of BYU in the improvement of planning and implementation of programs at the Hawaii campus.”

Dr. Stephen L. Brower, who has served as president of CCH for the past three years, will continue as president until the consolidation. A special tribute to Dr. Brower was paid by President Spencer W. Kimball who delivered the commencement address.

Prior to coming to CCH, Dr. Andersen served three years as assistant dean of education at Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia. He also served there as a consultant on school districts as he had similarly served in northern Nigeria, Nairobi, and Kenya. He has also served with the United States Office of Education.

The Church College of Hawaii opened its doors in September 1955. Almost half of its 1,000 students come from Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, the Philippines, China, Japan, and Korea. Others come from the United States mainland.