BYU-Idaho announces new president - East Idaho News
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BYU-Idaho announces new president

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REXBURG — Brigham Young University-Idaho announced a significant leadership change Tuesday during a devotional address.

team-clark

Clark Gilbert, the CEO of Deseret News Publishing Company and Deseret Digital Media, will become the university’s 16th president on April 13. He replaces Kim B. Clark, who took the helm at BYU-Idaho in late 2005.

The announcement was made by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church owns and operates BYU-Idaho.

Nelson had high praise for President Clark’s service.

β€œHe has earned the trust, support, respect, and love of the faculty, staff, administrators, and students of this great university. Truly, in him, we have seen an eloquent example of an effective leader and servant,” Nelson said in a news release.

Gilbert gained some renown in recent years for his reorganization of Desert News and his push to provide family-focused content to millions of people around the world.

His ties to BYU-Idaho go back several years. Before taking the helm of Deseret Digital Media in 2009, Gilbert served as associate academic vice president at BYU-Idaho, where he advanced the university’s online learning opportunities and the Pathway distance education initiative.

Gilbert graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo and earned a master’s degree from Standford University, according to biographical information from Deseret Digital Media.

He earned a doctoral degree from the Harvard Business School, where he was later a professor of entrepreneurial management focusing on media innovation.

President Kim B. Clark

President Clark also has ties to Harvard University, where he worked with Gilbert. President Clark served as dean of the Harvard Business School from 1995 until he became president of BYU-Idaho.

BYU-Idaho, formerly known as Ricks College, became a four-year university in 2001. It has a total full-time enrollment of about 13,000 students.

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