Appointed to the Business School faculty that same year, Clark--now Baker Professor of Administration--became a professor in technology and operations management. In 1990, he became the department's chair.

After his appointment, Clark turned his attention to restructuring the MBA program, improving student services and increasing the school's use of technology. He instituted a school-wide e-mail system. In addition, while the MBA program still uses case studies as the focus part of the program, they now all have video and computer elements to them.

Clark declined to comment for this article through his spokesperson. In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Clark predicted "a dramatic transformation in the way people acquire and use information."

"We want to be leaders in that process," he said. "The challenge is to reinvent the Harvard Business School."

But making the curriculum more technology-savvy didn't change core values, according to Clark.

"What we are asking the faculty to do is bring the real world into the classroom. The core teaching is the same," Clark said to the London Financial Times in 1996.

Leverett Professor in the University Jerry R. Green, who served as President Neil L. Rudenstine's first provost, says Clark would be a good choice for University president.

"He knows academic life, both from the student side and the faculty side, and he sees the big picture. He's very results-oriented. He wants to really deliver a first-class product," Green says.