USD Provost Becomes University of Idaho President

USD’s loss will be Idaho’s gain as the Provost gets a promotion.  According to a press release, Provost Chuck Staben is leaving the University of South Dakota to become president of the University of Idaho.

Staben was chosen from among five finalists for the position. His appointment was approved by the Idaho Board of Education, and he will begin his duties in Moscow, Idaho, on March 1, 2014.

USD President Jim Abbott praised Staben for his involvement with the

American Visiting Institute for Chinese Entrepreneurs, which according to Abbott, “…has opened the doors of USD to the world.  We certainly wish him well in his new role at Idaho.”

USD will move quickly to launch a search for a new provost and vice president of academic affairs.  Meantime, Kurt Hackemer, USD's associate vice president for academic affairs, will serve as interim provost.

Staben came to USD in 2008 from the University of Kentucky, where he was the acting vice president for research. He also served as chair of the biology department at Kentucky, where he started his teaching career in 1989. Staben is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and did postdoctoral research at Chiron Research Laboratories and Stanford University.