New BYUI President Speaks about the university's future

REXBURG – Clark Gilbert will be formally installed as the 16th president of Brigham Young University-Idaho during an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

Gilbert began his service at BYU-Idaho in April 2015. He comes to Rexburg from Salt Lake City where he served as the president and CEO of Deseret News Publishing Company and Deseret Digital Media.

EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton recently sat down with President Gilbert. Here’s a transcript of some our conversation.

Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com reporter: You’ve studying innovation and entrepreneurship. You worked with Clayton Christensen who wrote a book about how higher education is in trouble because it’s so expensive. What do you plan to do here that might be different than other universities?

Clark Gilbert – BYU-Idaho president: Much of that’s already in place. Take four or five foundational choices that came when BYU-Idaho was announced by President Hinckley. The fact we would have a teaching faculty, the fact we wouldn’t be researched focused, that we wouldn’t have graduate programs, and that we wouldn’t have college athletic but rather an activities program for the whole student body. That one announcement was so foundational to forming the character of what would become BYU-Idaho that it really allows the university to not only be more affordable than many institutions of higher education but better for the student.

Things happen here not just because we had great leaders, and we did, but we had a legacy of Ricks College, of prophetic direction, of willingness to sacrifice and invest in others plus a modesty that came with the spirit of Ricks. Our teaching focus came together to say we can educate many more students at an affordable cost but do it in a way that’s actually extremely valuable to a student. We are going to be teaching focused and that’s a deliberate decision - an unapologetic, unambiguous decision to be focused on teaching and on the student and that is a unique choice in most of higher education.

Our purpose at BYU-Idaho goes much deeper than just imparting a professional knowledge base but it’s in changing the student and making them a disciple of Jesus Christ in a way that is unique in the spiritual development of our students. We’re saying that is our focus.

Eaton: What’s something you want east Idahoans to know about you?

Gilbert: I hope I have a good sense of humor. I’m not all stiff and serious. I love investing in my kids sports and school and I hope to be involved as any other responsible parent would and should be. Our children are busy and I think [people in East Idaho] will see our family in lots of things but they won’t all be poised and dressed in Sunday dress and sitting straight and perfect in every setting. They’re little children and we want to be able to do that. We hope out family will be very involved in this assignment but that means sometimes I’ll have to pick up my youngest and give her pacifier back to her and let her know her dad’s here for her.