From Deseret News archives:

A Harvard man takes leap of faith

Published: Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 10:03 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
REXBURG, Idaho — Getting a 34-year Harvard man to abandon one of the nation's most prestigious business colleges for an Idaho church school would seem to demand nothing short of divine revelation.

For Kim Clark, who marked his last day as Harvard Business School dean on July 31, it was nearly that.

It came in the form of a phone call last May to Clark, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from President Gordon B. Hinckley, the 95-year-old leader of the Latter-day Saints. President Hinckley asked the economist to head Rexburg's Brigham Young University-Idaho, which just five years ago was a two-year junior college.

"You have to appreciate what this is like," said Clark, 56, of President Hinckley's call. "We behold him to be a prophet. Imagine yourself getting a call from Moses."

Scholars of Mormonism say Clark's exchange of cosmopolitan Cambridge, Mass., for rural Idaho offers a glimpse of the allegiance Mormon laity have to leaders in one of the world's fastest growing churches.

"LDS people are pretty responsive to that sort of a direct call, a mission call, almost," said Lawrence Foster, a religious history professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Story continues below
It will be a drastic change in scenery and culture for Clark, who began his Harvard career as a freshman in 1967, interrupting his stay only for a two-year church mission in Germany and a year at BYU's Provo campus.

Rexburg, which has just 17,000 residents and boasts just two non-American restaurants — one Chinese, one Mexican — and liberal Cambridge, Mass., are worlds apart.

At Harvard, for instance, there is an open gay, lesbian and bisexual community among faculty and students. At BYU-Idaho, Mormons believe same-sex relationships violate God-sanctioned marriage. Students this month took part in a "Modest is Hottest: A Guy Panel" forum extolling the virtues of appropriate clothing.

No stranger to the West, Clark was born in Utah and raised in Spokane, Wash.

Even so, he's been to Rexburg just once for an eight-hour visit following the June announcement he'd be taking over.

"It doesn't matter to me what other people think about" the decision to leave Harvard, Clark said. "I'm pretty sure that if you and I have this conversation 10 years from now, people will know about BYU-Idaho."

Officials at the 117-year-old school say it's not an academic wilderness.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Kim Clark

previousnext

Latest comments

Sounds like a good option if you can't or won't switch to AT&T for the...

I worked with and around Bill Sederburg for 5 years while he was at...

Price injured; Miles has cast removed

hand. He needs to work on his moves to the basket and rebounding. Lateral...

Jazz blow big lead, hang on

play Fez or Koufos tonight. He went with a smaller line up and Boozer, Okur...

I've met Bennett before and he is a nice man. He also knows the Constitution...

Thousands protest health bill

That's never been a secret. Everyone will pay for it except those that don't...

What exactly were Nephite interpreters?

I agree with NonMormon. I am active LDS, and I enjoy Ash's articles, and I...

I kept saying don't resign Milsap, especially after Portland offered that...

U. hopes to keep clicking

BYU is the slowest team that has ever been in the top 25. Utah will put up a...

NFL: Midseason grades

i think u have the cowboys ranked too low! at least an A- LOL nice work!

Advertisements
Advertisement