Charles Alan Staben (born May 3, 1958) is an American academic professor who served as the 18th president of the University of Idaho from 2014 to 2020. Selected by the State Board of Education on November 18, 2013, Staben succeeded interim president Donald Burnett on March 1, 2014. He was previously provost at the University of South Dakota and the acting vice president for research at the University of Kentucky. Early life and education Born and raised in Waukegan, Illinois, Staben has two sisters; their father was an engineer and manager at United States Steel, primarily at the wire products plant in Waukegan. Staben attended Waukegan Township High School and graduated in three years. He was a member of the swim and tennis teams, was Outstanding Math Student of the Year, and graduated as valedictorian. Staben attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and majored 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 to 1986 and a postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University from 1987 to 1989. Career Early career Moving east to the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1989, Staben was a professor of biology from 1989 to 2008, serving as the chair of the biology department He taught microbiology, genetics, bioinformatics, and introductory biology, winning awards including the College of Arts and Science's "Distinguished Teacher Award" from 1997 to 2000, that college's most prestigious teaching award. From 2005 to 2008, he was the associate vice president for research at the University of Kentucky, acting as vice president from 2006 to 2007. From 2008 to 2014 Staben served as provost and vice president for academic affairs of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. University of Idaho As 18th President of the University of Idaho, Staben sought to grow its enrollment and increase overall college attendance in Idaho. Working with the State Board of Education, in 2015 he advanced a "direct admissions" initiative that offered automatic admission to the state's public universities and colleges for qualified public high school seniors. Staben implemented additional changes to increase access to education, including free admission processing for all Idaho residents and a "durable admissions" program that