Robert A. Easter

Easter was born on October 23, 1947 in southwest Texas,{{citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=None of the existing citations mentions date and/or place of birth.}} where he was raised on a grain and livestock farm in La Pryor.{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and |title=Robert Easter |url=https://ncpre.csl.illinois.edu/about/people/robert-easter |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=ncpre.csl.illinois.edu |language=en}} His grandfather was a homesteader.{{Cite web |last=Timmins |first=Mary |date=2014-12-20 |title=University of Illinois Alumni |url=https://uiaa.org/2014/12/19/a-man-for-all-seasons/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=University of Illinois Alumni |language=en-US}}

Easter graduated from La Pryor High School in 1966. From there, he enrolled in Texas A&M University, planning on pursuing a career in law. However, after working with legislators one summer, he was convinced by a colleague to focus on his knowledge of swine and agriculture.

In 1970, Easter graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in Agriculture Education before continuing his education at A&M earning a master's degree in Animal Nutrition.{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and |title=Bob Easter |url=https://csl.illinois.edu/directory/faculty/reaster |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=csl.illinois.edu |language=en}}

In the winter of 1973, Easter and his wife Cheryl traveled to Urbana, Illinois for Easter to pursue a PhD program at the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The couple planned to return to Texas once Robert's PhD program was complete. Easter earned his PhD in Animal Science in 1976.{{Cite web |title=Easter '70, Dr. Robert |url=https://alec.tamu.edu/people/easter-70-dr-robert/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications |language=en-US}}

As a graduate student, Easter excelled, catching the attention of the college's faculty. When a lecturer left Illinois to take a job at Purina, the position was offered to Easter, who declined a position at Texas A&M to take the spot at Illinois. The faculty member who left was recruited by then-executive at Purina, Ed McMillan, who would later become chair of the University of Illinois' Board of Trustees in 2015.{{Cite web |title=Agribusiness leader new chair of U of I Board of Trustees {{!}} UIC today |url=https://today.uic.edu/agribusiness-leader-new-chair-of-u-of-i-board-of-trustees/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=today.uic.edu}}{{Cite web |date=2015-03-19 |title=Robert Easter — the accidental president |url=https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/2015/03/19/robert-easter-the-accidental-president/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=The Daily Illini}}

Freshly out of graduate school, Easter began his career at the University of Illinois in the fall semester of 1976 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences. By 1987, Easter had been promoted to a full professor, and 7 years later, in 1995, he was named the head of the Department of Animal Sciences.{{Cite web |title=Robert A. Easter {{!}} College of ACES Alumni Association :: College of ACES Alumni Association :: College of ACES, University of Illinois |url=https://acesalumni.illinois.edu/robert-easter |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=acesalumni.illinois.edu}} As department head, he played a major role in the construction of the Funk Agriculture library.{{Cite web |title=Funk Library FAQs – Funk Library – U of I Library |url=https://www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces/about/newfaq/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.library.illinois.edu}}

Easter's research focused on swine agriculture, and in 1997, he co-authored a book on the pork industry of China, an agricultural staple he traveled to study most summers during his tenure at Illinois.

In 2002, Easter was named as dean of the College of ACES.

In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Easter to the Board for International Food and Agriculture Development (BIFAD), of which he became chair the following year.

In 2009, Easter, planning to retire, resigned as dean. But at his retirement party, Easter was approached by University Chancellor Richard Herman who asked him to stay at the University as interim Provost. Then-Provost Linda Katehi was planning to leave the university to take another position, leaving an opening. Easter agreed.

Within months, the University of Illinois faced a major scandal within its admissions process. Lists of "Category I" applicants (applicants with connections to university VIPs who received priority consideration) were leaked. The fallout of the scandal led the majority of the Board of Trustees to resign, along with the University's president and Chancellor Herman, who had recruited Easter. Just months after he forwent retirement, Easter was asked, again, to take on an interim position; this time as Chancellor.{{Cite web |title=Easter 2012-2015 - University of Illinois System |url=https://www.uillinois.edu/cms/one.aspx?portalId=1324&pageId=137005 |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.uillinois.edu}}

Easter remained as interim Chancellor until mid-2011, when Phyllis Wise was hired into the position. Wise then asked Easter, once more, to stay at the University in an interim position, as the vice chancellor for research. Easter took the job on January 1, 2012.

Within weeks, the University was rocked by yet another scandal that saw the University's President resign under fire for the second time in a little over three years. Then-president Michael Hogan informed board chair Chris Kennedy that he planned to resign after his staff was accused of interfering with faculty governance, and he failed to survive a faculty vote of no-confidence.{{Cite web |date=2012-03-23 |title=University of Illinois President Michael Hogan resigns |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2012-03-23-ct-met-u-of-i-president-20120323-story.html |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=Chicago Tribune}} Kennedy turned to Easter to fill the position, who took over immediately as President-Designate. On July 1, 2012, Easter officially became the 19th University of Illinois system president.

Easter remained president until May 17, 2015, successfully retiring six years later than he had originally planned. He was succeeded by Timothy L. Killeen.

Easter served as an Officer in the Army Reserve for 20 years. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1972, Easter traveled Washington, DC for weekend and summer assignments while working as a professor at the University. Easter retired from service in 1992 with the rank of Major.{{Cite web |title=HR0415 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |url=https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/97/HR/09700HR0415.htm |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.ilga.gov}}

Easter lives in Mahomet, Illinois with his wife Cheryl on an acreage with fruit trees. He has two sons, a daughter, and six grandchildren. In January 2012, Easter's son Aaron died in a snowboarding accident in Colorado, just weeks before he was asked to take the role of university president.{{Cite web |last=Wurth |first=Julie |date=2012-01-26 |title=Outdoors was Easter's first love |url=https://www.news-gazette.com/news/outdoors-was-easters-first-love/article_63015ef6-2a57-5692-897d-f804ff89cae8.html |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=The News-Gazette |language=en}}

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{{Leaders of the University of Illinois}}

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Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:American agriculturalists

Category:Leaders of the University of Illinois

Category:United States Army reservists

Category:People from Zavala County, Texas

Category:Texas A&M University alumni

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty