Any Brigham Young University students in search of role models, school President C. Shane Reese advised Tuesday, need look no further than two past BYU leaders: Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland.
“If there were ever two patron saints of BYU, they would surely be President Holland and President Oaks,” Reese told thousands of students assembled in the Marriott Center. “Their influence on this campus during its second century is immeasurable and ongoing. It will endure forever.
“And equally important for you students, they both sat where you sit,” he added. “... They strived for educational and professional excellence and never deviated from the path of Christian discipleship.”
Reese said he admires Holland, the late apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who led BYU from 1980 to 1989, and Oaks, the global faith’s recently named 18th president who steered the Provo campus from 1971 to 1980, for their profound sense of “prophetic urgency.” Despite health and personal challenges, Reese said, they remained committed to the Christian cause.
The BYU president recounted a time when Holland spent weeks in a coma after the death of his wife, Patricia Holland. When the apostle awoke, he felt a renewed urgency to return to his ministry.
Reese quoted Holland, who described his experience:
“For four weeks, I was somewhere with a foot in another world. And the two lessons that I was given there and in effect told to take back to the church … were pray more than you pray. … I took that to be part of this hastening — the hastening of the work, the hastening of family history and every other aspect of our work, missionary work and all else. … The other lesson was to testify. To be a witness … however much you testify, testify more.”
Reese noted that Oaks oversaw major institutional developments during his tenure at the church’s flagship school, including adopting a new academic calendar, reorganizing two colleges while discontinuing another, emphasizing the university’s no-nonsense policy on dress and grooming, and initiating a series of moves that delegated authority to deans, department chairs and faculty.
Oaks’ path in life, Reese emphasized, has not been easy.
After the death of his father and while his mother was recovering from illness, Oaks’ third and fourth grade years in elementary school proved particularly challenging.
“Bullied on the school bus and playground, his fourth grade teacher required students to pass their arithmetic papers forward to be graded publicly. I call this public humiliation 101,” Reese recounted. “The teacher would then announce results, usually putting young Dallin at the bottom of the class.”
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dallin H. Oaks, left, and apostle Jeffrey R. Holland led BYU from 1971-1989.
Despite these obstacles, Reese said, Oaks would go on to become one of the world’s most respected legal minds — “so much that the president of the United States seriously considered appointing him to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
After sharing multiple stories from both former presidents, Reese shifted his focus to students, encouraging them to make the most of their time at BYU.
(Abby Shelton | BYU Photo) BYU President C. Shane and his wife, Wendy, at a devotional in the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
“Become something. Become a disciple,” he said. “Make the most of this semester, this week, this day. Make the most of your classes, among your classmates and in your families.”
Reese’s wife, Wendy, urged students to rely on their “heavenly GPS” as a guide.
“Trust in the plan, trust in prayer, and trust in your covenants,” she said. “Trust in God with all your heart this semester.”