While he appears to be an average, bow-tie-wearing professor, Dr. Neil J. Anderson is known as a “TESOL international rockstar,” a name dubbed by BYU–Hawaii Dean Mark Wolfersberger. Anderson, a professor in the Faculty of English & Social Work, shared experiences from his 41-year career as an internationally-acclaimed TESOL professor and researcher. He plans to retire from BYUH after the Spring 2021 Semester.
Dean of the Faculty of English & Social Work, Wolfersberger said Anderson’s connections raised the profile of BYUH in the TESOL field. “He has connected students to people in the TESOL world that there is no way they would be able to connect without his influence,” Wolfersberger explained.
Although internationally renowned, Wolfesberger said, “When you see him here at BYU–Hawaii, you don’t know that because you don’t know all the high-profile people that he’s rubbed shoulders with throughout his career.”
This group of scholars Anderson knows includes Dr. Andy Curtis, former TESOL International President, and Dr. Rebecca Oxford of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. They both visited and taught on campus, which gave students valuable networking opportunities, Wolfersberger said.
Wolfersberger laughed, “I always tell my students, ‘When you apply for a job, make sure they know you took a class from Neil Anderson.’”
Dr. Nancy Tarawhiti, professor in the Faculty of English & Social Work, said Anderson served as chair of TESOL International for two years and hosted a convention in 2020 with more than 6,000 attendees. He also worked on the TESOL International board for four more years, and that was where he made all his connections, said Tarawhiti.
“I went to a conference with him once,” Tarawhiti recalled, “and we were walking across the conference hall. Everywhere we went, people stopped him and took photos with him. I was like ‘Oh my gosh! You’re like a rockstar! I need a shirt that says, ‘I’m with Neil!’”
Oh my gosh! You’re like a rockstar! I need a shirt that says, ‘I’m with Neil!
But Anderson accredits BYUH’s TESOL success to his colleagues. He said, “The EIL program here is very well respected beyond BYU–Hawaii. There have been absolutely phenomenal educators in this program from the beginning. … There’s such a harmonious relationship with all my colleagues here. We all work together in really strong ways.”
According to Wolfersberger, Anderson has written more than 50 books, textbook chapters and journal articles in his area of expertise, including the number one selling reading textbook for TESOL in the world, “ACTIVE Skills for Reading.”
After graduating from BYU in Provo’s TESOL master’s program and getting his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, Anderson said he taught at the Ohio State University and BYU in Provo. With more than 40 years of experience and dozens of awards, Anderson said he came to BYUH in 2014 and decided to conclude his career in Laie.
“When he decided to apply here, everybody couldn’t believe we were gonna get Neil Anderson. We had talked about it, and I was like, ‘Ah, yeah you’re gonna fit in well here, and you’re gonna love it here,’” Tarawhiti said.
Wolfersberger expressed awe and gratitude for Anderson and his willingness to share his talents with the BYUH ohana. “[Neil] firmly believes in the mission of the Church schools and is a man of deep faith. He understands the impact that BYU Provo, Idaho and Hawaii have on people’s lives.”
Anderson encouraged students at BYUH to carefully utilize every minute they are here to fulfill their divine potential. “Laie is a sacred place. This campus, because it’s so small, allows you to form relationships with faculty and with fellow students in ways that you would not be able to form in any other location. The closeness of the temple, the student wards, the [Polynesian Cultural Center] – all of that comes together in helping us fulfill our divine potential.”
As a young university student, Anderson said he did not expect to become a TESOL expert. Instead, he said he was studying to enter law school. At the conclusion of his mission in Guatemala, he met with his mission president and shared his career plans.
“[President] went silent for what seemed to me to be forever. It might’ve only been about 30 seconds, but it seemed forever. … [his mission president] said, ‘Elder Anderson, law school is not for you. I don’t know what the Lord has intended for you, but law school is not for you.’ And then we moved on to other questions and just left it there.”
Anderson explained he went through a “degree crisis” in the middle of getting his business management degree. His wife suggested he try TESOL. “I started taking coursework in TESOL and from my very first class I knew this was for me.”
After graduating from the TESOL master’s program in Provo, Anderson moved his family to the Philippines to work with the United States refugee program. At the time, Anderson explained, thousands of refugees were fleeing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to escape the Vietnam War. He went to refugee camps sponsored by the United Nations located in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, where refugees spent 20 weeks learning English.
While he was there, Anderson said he tested the refugees’ reading proficiency, traveling between the three camps. His objective was to let the United States government know if the program was worth the millions of dollars spent instructing and resettling the refugees.
“By giving the refugees the language training they needed, helping them start thinking about employment and getting [them] accustomed to U.S. culture, [it] made that transition easier. … It was an extremely rewarding period of time,” Anderson said.
Tarawhiti described Anderson’s teaching as “very animated.” Tarawhiti said although Anderson can be stern at times, “he always does it in such a Christlike manner. He really does have Christ as the focus of his learning, his teaching and the way he conducts himself.”
Soon after researching in Costa Rica, Tarawhiti remembered Anderson taught her first TESOL class at BYU in Provo. Tarawhiti was born in New Zealand and studied in BYU’s TESOL program. “I got to Provo, and I hated everything. I hated the food. I hated the weather. I hated the people. … I remember getting on my knees one day and said to Heavenly Father, ‘I’m ready to pack up and go home. I don’t like it here.’
“And I felt a strong impression that Heavenly Father was going to send me a friend.”
Tarawhiti said she walked through campus that day smiling at everyone, hoping to find her special friend. Then, she entered Anderson’s class. “Instantly, I was thinking, ‘Are you serious? This is my friend? This old man with a bowtie?’”
After 18 years of friendship, Tarawhiti said Anderson also befriends the students at BYUH. “If he sees someone that he knows walking across campus, he’ll stop and ask, ‘How’s it going, brother? How are your classes? How are you doing?’ and he does it to figure out if there’s any way he can help them.
“When Neil talks to you, you know he’s on your side like he’s your biggest cheerleader,” Tarawhiti said.
It’s been a rich and rewarding 41 years, and I wouldn’t change one thing.
Anderson said he is ready to retire, but he hasn’t worked out all the details yet. “I am confident that Heavenly Father will guide the path, and things will unfold for both my wife and me and my family as they need to unfold.”
While the details are unknown, he said some things will never change. “I’ll keep running and keep serving in the temple, loving my family and all those other things will fall into place.”
Anderson concluded, “It’s been a rich and rewarding 41 years, and I wouldn’t change one thing that has happened in the last 41 years in terms of my career.”