Change at the Top at Harvard Business School

June 6, 2005--Kim B. Clark, who was credited with raising the profile of entrepreneurial studies at the Harvard Business School during his decade as its dean, announced today that he is taking the top job at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

The Associated Press reported that Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers hailed Clark at a news conference this afternoon, saying that the dean "leaves the business school a stronger institution than he found it." When Summers was selected to lead Harvard in 2001, Clark was seen by some observers as one of several runners up for that job.

The university that Clark will become president of, BYU-Idaho , is separate from the BYU most people know about, which is in Provo, Utah -- though both are affiliated with the Mormon Church. Brigham Young University-Idaho is, itself, something of a start-up venture: Only five years ago, the church announced that it was transforming the school from a two-year college into a full-fledged, four-year cousin of the Mormons' flagship university.

The BYU-Idaho presidency could provide Clark with more opportunities to bring entrepreneurship studies into the academic mainstream, although the school does not appear to have much expertise in the field. Currently, BYU-Idaho's department of business management has a faculty of only 16, compared to HBS's 207, and the school's website lists only one course that is explicitly about entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, Clark may be able to start some interesting programs with respect to entrepreneurship in his new job. As Inc. reported in the May issue, private companies in Idaho are thriving, thanks largely to the trend of home-sourcing. Boise, in particular, increasingly is becoming an entrepreneurial hot spot. Brigham Young University-Idaho is in Rexburg, which is due east of Boise, towards the Wyoming border. Clark starts his new job on July 31st.

Follow Inc. magazine at @incmagazine