School of Business Professor Dr. James R. Bradshaw is retiring at the end of Summer Term after teaching at BYU-Hawaii for the past 38 years. Along with Japanese language professor Katsuhiro Kajiyama, he is currently the most senior fulltime faculty member at the university.
Dr. Bradshaw recalled he first visited Church College of Hawaii (renamed BYU-Hawaii in 1974) in 1961 on his way home from serving a mission in Korea. "The school hadn't been here very long, but it really looked beautiful, and I thought I would like to teach here if I ever got the chance," he said.
After serving in the military in Korea for three years, marrying his wife, Jeanie, completing bachelor's and master's degree in Utah, and calling CCH periodically to check for an opening, he was hired in 1969 to teach business education after then-Assistant to the Twelve Elder Gordon B. Hinckley interviewed him. "I'd known him in Korea. When I was in the military, I would help chauffer him around."
"A lot of things came together," he said. "I finished up my coursework in August, and started teaching over here in September '69. Kajiyama, Jay Wrathall [who retired in 2003] and I started the same year."
In '74 the young professor earned his doctorate during a sabbatical year at BYU Provo, and then had offers to teach at Weber State University in Utah and Ricks College in Idaho, "but Jeanie and I felt we should come back here."
"A big settling point was buying our house after about eight years. When I first came there was a turnover about every three or four years, but that really helped us set roots." He added all four of their children — Scott (a bishop in Ewa Beach), Lisa (who lives in Alabama), Jonathan (in American Fork, Utah) and Mibi (who helps with her mother's business) — grew up in Laie and attended BYU-Hawaii. The three oldest are BYUH graduates.
"This has been an enjoyable journey. At the last graduation banquet, I 'guestimated' I probably had in my classes somewhere between 8,000-10,000 students," Dr. Bradshaw said.
One of those who sticks out in his mind is Elder Choi Yoon Hwan, the new Area Authority Seventy in Korea. "At that time the Korean student body was very small. We used to be able to fit them into our home on Kulanui Street for get-togethers." He added the Korean Club helped him build a rock wall at the home. "At one time we were also hosting all of the stake presidents and early members of the Church when they came through here for conferences in Salt Lake."
Reminiscing further, Dr. Bradshaw noted when he started teaching "there were four of us that made up the accounting, management, and secretarial science department. Since then, of course, the department has grown into a division, and now the School of Business."
"At one time we were teaching 'business machines' with the old 10-key adding machine. We had a room full of typewriters and a hand-crank Mimeograph [duplicating] machine, but now everything is computers. Technology has worked wonders. Business Ed was pretty strong then, but that's died down," he said, pointing out the occasional student now approaches that discipline through the School of Education.
More recently, Dr. Bradshaw has been teaching marketing, business communications, "and a GE [general education] class called Business, Government and Society, IDS 304. I've also kept a religion class about twice a year, and have enjoyed teaching that the last 10 years or more."
Dr. Bradshaw was bishop of one of the early student wards, which was then a part of Oahu Stake — "the only stake on this whole side of the island." He later served in the BYU-Hawaii 2nd and Laie North Stake presidencies.
Asked about his retirement plans, he replied he and his wife want to spend some family and personal time on the mainland, so "we see ourselves going back and forth; and she still has her jewelry business in the lobby of the Turtle Bay hotel." Additionally, he plans to compile a lifetime of old photos, film and memories into a digital family history.
"We would also like to do some traveling," he continued, adding the couple has been to Europe several times and would like to go again. "My wife still has family in Korea, and we would also like to visit them, as well as a sister-in-law in Beijing; and my brother's on a temple mission in Hong Kong."
Asked what he would like to see in the future years of BYU-Hawaii, Dr. Bradshaw said he hopes the School of Business gets a new building. "The School of Business has always had a good share of the graduates here and recognized programs." He added he would also like to see "endowed chairs to bring in international experts for a year at a time"; and maybe even an M.B.A. degree, partially administered through Provo.
"I think we're moving in the right direction," Dr. Bradshaw said. "We've loved being here all these years. Our kids have done very well. I've had academic responsibilities on campus and wonderful Church experiences in two stake presidencies and working in the temple as a sealer. I've been very pleased with the experience. I'm delighted with the faculty and staff I've dealt with over the years, and the quality of students."
