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Dixie Junior College Pres. Ferron C. Losee New President

Dixie Junior College Pres. Arthur F. Bruhn

Ferron C. Losee was appointed President of Dixie Junior College in September 1964, and remained for 12 years. He retired in 1976.

President Losee was born in Panguitch, Utah in June 1910. He graduated from Provo High School in 1928.  While in high school he was active in all sports and excelled especially in swimming.  He completed the requirements for his BS Degree in Physical Education from BYU in 1936, with a minor in English. While at the 'Y', he participated in all major sports.   

He married Faye Greer in 1936 and they became the parents of three daughters.

 His first teaching position was at Roosevelt High School in 1935-36, where he coached physical education.

 From 1936-1941, he was Professor of Health and Physical Education, Coach and Director of Intramurals at Weber College in Oqden, Utah. In 1938, he received his Masters Degree from the University of Southern California.

 During the World War II years, 1941-1945, he served as a Lt. Commander in the US Naval Air Service, with his final assignment being Staff Officer in the Pacific Fleet.

 Following the war, he returned to BYU where he was Graduate Manager, Business Manager of Student Ac­tivities for 1945-1947. 

His next two years were spent at the University of Southern California where he taught courses in Physical Education, lectured in graduate courses and in 1950, completed the requirements for a Ph.D in Education Administra­tion.

 From 1949 to 1964, he served as Division Ad­ministrator over five departments at California State College at Los Angeles.  He was President of the California Collegiate Athletic Association and a member of the Public Relations Committee of the NCAA from 1961 to 1964, and is a life member of the Helms Hall Athletic Foundation.

 In 1960, following a tragic airplane crash involv­ing members of the California State Polytechnic College football team, Losee arranged and directed the Mercy Bowl Football Classic, which raised $250,000 for the survivors of the crash. 

At the time of his appointment as President, Dr. Losee was serving as Dean of the School of Fine and Applied Arts at California State College at Los Angeles. 

President Losee became known as the "Builder of the Dixie College Campus"; he opened doors in the state capital that had previously been closed and established a working relationship with Governor Calvin L. Rampton and other state officials.  He convinced them that he could give Dixie the new directions it needed.  He chang­ed the image of Dixie from a small col­lege campus with an enrollment of only 383 students, to a vibrant and growing campus covering a total of 74 acres, with an enrollment of 1300 students.

 According to former Dixie College Professor, Wayne McConkie, it was this tremendous growth in physical size and in numbers of students and President Losee's influence and statures that in­sured the future and solidified the position of Dixie College as a permanent part of the Utah System of Higher Education. "People today just don't understand the trauma we went through every time the legislature met", Professor McConkie said, “we continually wondered if Dixie would ever be able to continue."