New President Named at Ricks College

Changes in the Church’s educational structure this spring also include the announcement by the First Presidency of the retirement of President John L. Clarke of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. President Clarke has been president of Ricks since 1944—27 years. His successor will be Dr. Henry B. Eyring, 37, presently associate professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California. He will assume his duties July 1.

In speaking of Ricks, the new president said, “I’ve really only been there once. I met the administration and quite a few students. I was tremendously impressed with the affection the administration and the students had for the school and for each other. So naturally I am buoyed up and very excited about being a part of this and being able to associate with these people.

“I’m also looking forward to meeting the faculty, because I’ve heard about them from people who have graduated from Ricks. These graduates describe the faculty more like family members than teachers. It is unusual for teachers to care about students this much. I can’t wait to meet them and, as a professor myself, to learn how students and faculty can achieve this kind of rapport.”

The new president was born at Princeton, New Jersey, where his world-famous scientist father, Dr. Henry Eyring, was teaching. He was graduated from the University of Utah in physics and has his master’s and doctor’s degrees in business administration from Harvard University. He held a one-year appointment as visiting-professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently bishop of the Stanford University student ward.

The retiring president at Ricks has indeed become an institution. When he came to the campus in 1944, the college consisted of two stone buildings, a small heating plant, and a lot of sagebrush on the beautiful, gently sloping hills of Rexburg. Registration at the school was about one hundred girls and eight boys.

Since that time the college has grown to become the largest Church-supported two-year college in America, with a studentbody of over five thousand representing every state in the union and twenty-six nations.

“Although Ricks was small when I came,” said President Clarke, “I loved it at first sight. I knew its great pioneering heritage and that it had great potential. But I could never have imagined what it has become and the prominence it presently holds.”

Randy Bird, Ricks student body president from Blackfoot, Idaho, said, “In working with President Clarke, one comes to feel keenly his great concern for students. He really loves and cares about people.”

David Bly, of Magrath, Alberta, Canada, editor of the campus newspaper, the Viking Scroll, said, “As is true of other Church schools, we have had no riots or demonstrations against the administration and no burning of buildings. Yet there is an atmosphere of awareness and academic freedom that has thrived under the confident leadership of this great man.”

Hugh C. Bennion, dean of faculty at Ricks, said, “President Clarke is an eternal optimist. He refuses to see faults in others, and consequently others are anxious to improve their efforts.”

President Clarke was formerly president of the Rexburg Stake.

After twenty-seven years as president of the college, he says, “It has been good—and Dr. Eyring will play another major role in the development of this great college and in the lives of thousands of Latter-day Saint students. May God richly bless them all.”