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Chuck Staben

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Charles Alan “Chuck” Staben (born May 3, 1958) is an American academic and university administrator. He is the 18th and current president of the University of Idaho, the state’s land-grant university, having succeeded interim president Donald Burnett on March 1, 2014 after being selected by the State Board of Education on November 18, 2013.[1][2] He was previously Provost at the University of South Dakota and the Acting Vice President for Research at the University of Kentucky.

Biography

Chuck Staben was born in 1958 in Waukegan, Illinois. He has two sisters. His father was an engineer and manager at United States Steel, primarily at the wire products plant in Waukegan. Chuck attended Waukegan Township High School, graduating in three years. In high school Staben was a member of the swim team and tennis teams, was Outstanding Math Student of the Year, and was valedictorian.

Staben attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in biochemistry. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he graduated with honors, magna cum laude, in 1978. He earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984, serving as a graduate research and teaching assistant. Staben completed an industrial postdoctoral research fellowship at Chiron Research Laboratories from 1985–1986 and a postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University from 1987-1989.

Moving to the University of Kentucky in 1989, Staben was a professor of biology from 1989–2008, serving as the chair of the biology department from 2000-2004. He taught microbiology, genetics, bioinformatics, and introductory biology, winning awards including the College of Arts and Science’s “Distinguished Teacher Award” from 1997–2000, that college’s most prestigious teaching award.[3] His research focused on fungal developmental biology, bioinformatics, and fungal genomics. He received grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies. He has served on NSF and NIH grant review panels and on a National Research Council committee that reviewed the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and the Institutional Development Award programs for the U.S. Senate.

From 2005-2008, he served as the associate vice president for research at the University of Kentucky, acting as vice president from 2006-2007. From 2008-2014 Staben served as provost and vice president for academic affairs of the University of South Dakota.[4]

President, University of Idaho

As president of the University of Idaho, Staben has sought to grow the enrollment of the University of Idaho and more broadly increase college attendance in Idaho.[5] Working with the State Board of Education, in 2015 he advanced a “direct admit” initiative that offered automatic admission to the state’s public universities and colleges for qualified public high school seniors.[6][7][8]

Staben maintains office hours where any student or group is able to meet with him. He and his wife, Mary Beth, participate in the Friendship Families program, hosting international students at their home throughout the year.[9] Staben has also challenged students to play him in racquetball, offering to buy lunch for the student who can beat him. In November 2015 he lost his first and only match.[10]

Staben has emphasized innovation in the university’s research mission, updating intellectual property guidelines in 2014.[11] The revised approach allows industries to retain ownership of intellectual property while the university retains the right to publish and disseminate research results. The university notes that “the change already has generated projects – first among them, electrical engineering professor Brian K. Johnson’s research into power systems modeling for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory (SEL).”[12] Other agreements under the revised guidelines have included Idaho Power and Micron. Staben has also advanced a new Western Initiative for the Dairy Environment (WIDE) for research that supports the dairy industry in Idaho.[13]

During Staben’s administration, the University of Idaho added as second-year law school option in Boise to pair with an existing third-year option in that city. The university has announced plans to add a first-year component of its legal education program to the Boise location in 2017. In fall 2016 the university moved its second- and third-year Boise offerings to the newly renovated Idaho Law and Justice Learning Center at the former Ada County Courthouse.[14]

Working with the State Board of Education, Staben has also sought to expand the University of Idaho’s participation in the WWAMI Regional Medical Education Program. The university received funding for 10 additional slots in the program in 2014 and 2015, with funding for five new positions for a total of 40 added by the Idaho legislature in spring 2016.[15] In a state without its own public medical school, Staben has called for bolstering all elements of the medical education pipeline – pre-medical education, graduate medical education and residency opportunities.[16]

Under President Staben’s tenure, the University of Idaho has also seen new program growth in areas such as computer science and online learning.[17][18]

Personal life

Staben enjoys racquetball, bicycling and skiing, among other pursuits. He is married to Dr. Mary Beth Staben, a practicing physician in Idaho. The couple have one daughter and two sons and reside in Moscow, Idaho.

Notes

  1. ^ Spence, William (November 19, 2013). "Staben the unanimous choice at UI". The Lewiston Tribune.
  2. ^ Krasselt, Kaitlyn (November 19, 2013). "Good luck, Chuck - SBOE selects Staben for presidency". The Argonaut.
  3. ^ "Chuck Staben named provost, VP for academic affairs at The U". News. University of South Dakota. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  4. ^ "Meet the President". Meet the President. University of Idaho. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  5. ^ Rudd, Elizabeth (March 4, 2014). "New UI president to focus on boosting enrollment". The Lewiston Tribune. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Patrick, Mike (June 30, 2015). "A mission to simplify". The Coeur d'Alene Press. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Rozen, Lee (October 29, 2015). "Staben is a 'growth of enrollment' statesman". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  8. ^ Staben, Chuck (October 16, 2015). "Changing Idaho's college-going culture". Idaho Education News. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  9. ^ Staben, Chuck (Fall 2015). "From the President". Here We Have Idaho. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  10. ^ Shirley, Hannah (November 16, 2015). "Staben defeated—UI president has friendly racquetball competition with students". The Argonaut. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  11. ^ Weaver, Matthew (July 19, 2014). "UI president addresses ag funding, partnerships". Capital Press. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  12. ^ "IP Policy". Research. University of Idaho. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  13. ^ "Western Initiative for the Dairy Environment". WIDE. University of Idaho. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  14. ^ Dutton, Audrey (November 17, 2015). "Old courthouse becomes new beating heart of Treasure Valley's legal community". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  15. ^ Russell, Betsy (February 26, 2015). "Medical ed programs win support in JFAC, including adding 5 WWAMI seats". The Spokane Spokesman-Review. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  16. ^ Staben, Chuck (February 18, 2016). "WWAMI, U of I bolstering the future of medical education in Idaho". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  17. ^ Russell, Betsy (March 7, 2016). "North Idaho College could offer four-year computer science degree". Spokane Spokesman-Review. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  18. ^ "College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences Launches Six New Online Degrees". News. University of Idaho.
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