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| Michelle Hoffman/ Scroll |
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| During the Inauguration ceremony, President Gordon B. Hinckley officially installed Dr. Kim B. Clark as President of BYU-Idaho. The Inauguration took place on Oct. 11 in the Hart Auditorium. |
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Processional music signaled the march of President Kim B. Clark, distinguished guests, teachers and administrators into a filled John W. Hart Auditorium Tuesday afternoon as Brigham Young University-Idaho celebrated the inauguration of its newest president.
President Clark became a faculty member of the Harvard Business School in 1978 and was serving as dean of the school at the time of his call as BYU-I president.
“My own good fortune and Harvard’s is now your own,” said Harvard University President Lawrence Summers. “You could ask for no better leader and partner for charting your course.”
President Gordon B. Hinckley presided over and conducted the event. Other general authorities in attendance were Presidents Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust and Elders Henry B. Eyring, Richard G. Scott, Robert D. Hales, David A. Bednar, Earl C. Tingey and W. Rolfe Kerr. Bonnie D. Parkin, Relief Society general president, and Susan W. Tanner, Young Women general president, were also present.
Governor Dirk Kempthorne welcomed President Clark on behalf of Idaho and said, “You can call one of the most beautiful corners of the world home.”
The installation and charge to the president were performed by President Hinckley, who spoke with a conversational tone as he asked President Clark to come to the podium.
“I formally install you as the 15th president of BYU-Idaho,” President Hinckley said. “I charge you to lead the university to new heights of achievement and recognition.”
President Clark’s inaugural response captured the Spirit of Ricks as he talked of the legacy of family and the school he is going to put forward as the president of BYU-I.
“Our mission in two words is discipline and leadership,” President Clark said.
He spoke of three imperatives to reach the goal: to raise the quality of every aspect of student experience, to make a BYU-I education available to more young people and to lower the relative cost of education.
“We are not bound by tradition or the wisdom of men,” President Clark said. “Know that I embrace the charge you have given me and I will live in such a way to be inspired of the Lord.”
Closing remarks by President Hinckley highlighted the importance of education and how it is part of our religion, which is why the Church spends so much on education. He said it is the second largest budget of the Church, next to the temple budget, with 45,000 full-time students between Church institutions of higher education.
“This campus may literally offer a foretaste of heaven,” President Hinckley said.
After the benediction, President Hinckley personally thanked Summers and Kempthorne before leaving and said goodbye to the gathering.
“God bless you, Kim,” he said as he bid farewell to President Clark and waved goodbye to the students with a cheery smile and a boisterous “Bye!”
