Harvard scholar named as BYU-Hawaii president

Church officials announced today that former Harvard business professor Steven C. Wheelwright will be taking the helm at the Brigham Young University Hawaii campus.

Wheelwright will replace Eric B. Shumway, who has been president at the university since 1994.

"I know president Wheelwright will take BYU-Hawaii to new heights," President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said today at a live video teleconference from the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Students gathered at the Cannon Activities Center at BYU-Hawaii to hear the announcement.

"Through his expertise and many associations, I am confident he will expand the influence of BYU-Hawaii and bless the lives of all who come to this illustrious school," President Hinckley said.

The 100-acre Laie, Hawaii, campus serves 2,400 students and is one of the most ethnically-diverse, per-capita campuses in the country.

Wheelwright, the school's ninth president, said he would further the school's mission to influence as many lives for good as possible and work on lowering the cost per student to attend.

Wheelwright is the second church college president to be called from Harvard University, where he was an emeritus scholar in the business school.

He has spent the last eight months working with another Harvard business school alumnus, Kim Clark, who is president of BYU-Idaho.

Shumway, originally of Arizona, was also recently released from part-time service as an Area Authority for Hawaii and California for the church. He was recently called to serve as president of the new temple in Tonga.

During his school presidency, the church-owned university celebrated its 50th anniversary. He was instrumental in developing a comprehensive curriculum revision process and strengthening the university's school of business.

The new president-designate and Elder W. Rolfe Kerr, Church Education System Commissioner and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, will travel to Laie where they will speak at a devotional in the Cannon Activities Center on Thursday at 10 a.m.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com