UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DR. ROBERT W. KUSTRA, Boise State President His administration has been marked by an emphasis on research, upgrading admissions standards, improving the undergraduate experience, and increasing the number of graduate and doctoral programs, especially in science and engineering. Faculty awards and grants for research at Boise State have nearly tripled during his tenure to $50 million. Dr. Kustra also championed Boise State’s inclusion in the Mountain West Conference this year.
Dr. Robert Kustra is president of Boise State University, the largest public university in Idaho, with an enrollment of more than 20,000 students served by 2,800 faculty and staff.
Dr. Kustra led the most ambitious fundraising campaign in university history that reached its goal in 2011. Destination Distinction raised more than $175 million in private support for faculty, student scholarships, programs and campus infrastructure. He is also instrumental in the current fundraising drive to expand seating in Bronco Stadium.
Now in his ninth year, he leads the university in a time of dynamic growth in student enrollment, new construction, fundraising and research. Long heralded for its devotion to classroom teaching, Boise State has expanded its mission to become an emerging metropolitan research university of distinction.
With a long and distinguished career in public service in Illinois, Dr. Kustra served two terms as lieutenant governor, following 10 years in the legislature. He also chaired the Illinois Board of Higher Education, responsible for funding and oversight of the state’s nine public universities. Prior to joining Boise State, Dr. Kustra served as president of Eastern Kentucky University and the Midwestern Higher Education Commission.
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He has held faculty positions at the University of Illinois-Springfield, Loyola University of Chicago, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and Northwestern University. Dr. Kustra represents the Mountain West Conference on the NCAA Board of Directors as well as serving as a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee. He previously represented the Western Athletic Conference on the NCAA Division I executive committee and board of directors. He served on the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics. He also served as a Governor-appointed Commissioner to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education from 2009-11. In 2007, he was inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame and was named the Most Influential Person in the Treasure Valley by The Idaho Statesman. Dr. Kustra hosts a weekly radio show, Reader’s Corner, for the National Public Radio affiliate in Boise. Dr. Kustra holds degrees from Benedictine College and Southern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He and his wife, Kathy, have two grown children, three grandsons, and treasure the memory of their son, Steve.
BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY