Office of the President
Robert W. Kustra
Dr. Robert Kustra is president of Boise State University, the largest institution of higher learning in Idaho -- with more than 19,500 students and 2,400 faculty and staff -- and the state’s only metropolitan university. Dr. Kustra took the helm as Boise State’s sixth president on July 1, 2003.
Dr. Kustra leads Boise State in a formative time of profound growth and in the year of its 75th anniversary. Long heralded as an institution devoted to classroom teaching, Boise State is adding another dimension to its mission – that of a metropolitan research university of distinction. Today, Boise State University has eight colleges with undergraduate, graduate and technical programs in more than 190 fields of interest.
His administration has been marked by an emphasis on upgrading admissions standards, improving the undergraduate experience and increasing the number of graduate and doctoral programs. University milestones have included the creation of the Presidential Civic Leadership and Capital Scholar Programs, record-setting years in total funds for research and sponsored programs, and the completion of several new academic, residential and athletic facilities. The university’s four best fund-raising years have occurred during his presidency, and Dr. Kustra is currently leading Boise State’s first comprehensive campaign. He has played a key role in emerging plans for a locally controlled community college in the Treasure Valley. Dr. Kustra also hosts an award-winning weekly radio show, New Horizons in Education, on the NPR affiliate in Boise.
Dr. Kustra previously served as president of Eastern Kentucky University, a comprehensive residential university of 14,000 students. This followed a long and distinguished career in public service in Illinois. He served two terms as lieutenant governor of Illinois, following a ten-year career in the Illinois Legislature, first in the House and then in the Senate where he served in leadership. While Lieutenant Governor, he was appointed by the Governor to Chair the Illinois Board of Higher Education, responsible for the funding and oversight of Illinois’ nine public universities.
Immediately prior to joining Boise State, Dr. Kustra fulfilled a one-year term as president of the Midwestern Higher Education Commission, a regional compact of ten Midwestern states responsible for advancing higher education through interstate cooperation.
Before entering elective office, Dr. Kustra held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Lincoln Land Community College, and Loyola University of Chicago. At Loyola he also served as director of the Center for Research in Urban Government. Throughout his career in government and politics, Dr. Kustra taught at the University of Illinois-Chicago and Northwestern University.
He served on the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics and is past president of the Western Athletic Conference’s Board of Directors. He also serves on the board of the Special Olympics 2009 World Winter Games, Idaho Nature Conservancy, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Inland Northwest Research Alliance and the Governor’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology for the State of Idaho.
Born in St. Louis, President Kustra received his bachelor’s degree from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, his Masters from Southern Illinois University, and his doctorate from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. All of his degrees are in political science. He and his wife Kathy have three grown children and three grandsons.