Royden C. Braithwaite Collection

Royden C. Braithwaite was born in Manti, Utah on November 10 1912. He graduated from Manti High in 1931. He then spent a year at Snow College in Ephraim Utah where he was Student body President and received special scholarship honors. From 1933-1935 he served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Texas.

Upon his return he again went back to college this time at Brigham Young University where he finished his bachelors work in 1937. Royden began to teach Seminary at Wasatch Seminary from 1937-1941. During this time he married Alice Todd in 1938. He briefly served as Director of Institute of Religion at Dixie College in St. George, Utah in 1942. He quickly moved to Ogden, Utah where he was the Director of Weber College Institute of Religion from 1942- 45. He then taught as an instructor at Utah State University in the Institute of Religion. He did this in 1946. During this time Royden served in the U.S. Military as a chaplain. His division was called "Hell on Wheels". He served two years in Italy.

On his return Braithwaite moved on in his education getting his Ph.D. in Human Development. His graduate work was done at Brigham Young University, Stanford University, and Cornell University. On completion of his Ph.D. in 1950, he worked at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York for two years: 1950-1952, as Professor of Child Development and Family Relationships. He moved his family back to Utah to work at BYU as the Co-Dean of the new College of Family Living and as Professor of Psychology. He was at BYU from 1952-1955.

In 1955 Royden took the position of Director of the College of Southern Utah in Cedar City, Utah. He served as Director and President from 1955-1978, longer then any other man. He saw tremendous growth and was the force behind the college becoming an independent four year liberal arts college. He also made the name change from the College of Southern Utah to Southern Utah State College. After he retired in 1978 he continued to be recognized for his contributions to Cedar City and to the academic community. He received several honorary degrees from SUSC and from BYU.