Dean Hall

About

Dean Hall About Dean Hall was constructed in 1928 by Professor John Mason Young who designed it as well. It was built in the Neo-Classical Style to match the other buildings around the Quad, the oldest part of campus. Dean Hall was named after Arthur Lyman Dean, the 2nd president of the University, who is considered controversial due to his plagiarism of Alice Ballʻs work.

Additional Information

Historical:

The first floor of the building is utilized by the College of Social Sciences, housing the ACCESS Engagement and Lounge, as well as the Academic Advising Office. Dean Hall was originally called the Biological Sciences Building, and it housed facilities for Zoology, Botany, Entomology, Geology, and Anthropology. While named after the second president of the University, the name has not been without controversy. Arthur Dean plagiarized the groundbreaking work of Alice Ball, the first woman and Black American to graduate with a masters degree from the college of Hawaiʻi.

While she was a graduate student at the College, Ball developed a technique to modify the oil of the Chaulmoogric tree, one of the few treatments for Hansen’s disease. Dean was her advisor, and after her death he proceeded with further trials and published the details of her work without crediting her as the originator of the technique. At the time, Harry Holman who was the Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Leprosy Investigation Station of the U.S Public Health Service in Hawaii and had approached Ball with the request to have her study the chaulmoogra oil, pushed back against Dean’s plagiarism. The method was named the Dean method, however, and Ball’s accomplishments were forgotten. It was not until 2000 that her work was rediscovered and her contributions rightfully recognized.

Botanical:

The steps leading from Dean into the Quad are lined with pīkake, aloe, agave, and guava. The side of the building facing Campus Road has hedges of nānū/naʻu (Coffee Family) as an accent.

Departments

• Portions of Anthropology and Biology
• Social Work and Public Health

Colleges

• College of Social Sciences

Common Spaces

Related UH Links

• UH News: New Dean Hall lab elevates the classroom experience, April 23, 2024
• UH News: Dean Hall classroom transforms into an innovative culture lab, November 28, 2023

Resources

• Kobayashi, Victor N. Building a Rainbow: A History of the Buildings and Grounds of the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus. Honolulu, HI: Hui O Students, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1983.
• Leineweber, Spencer. Rep. University of Hawaiʻi Campus Heritage Report. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi: The Heritage Center, 2008.
• Ma Plant Finder. Accessed August 8, 2024. Link.
• University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Campus Map. Accessed August 8, 2024. Link.