Robert Easter

Dr. Robert Easter served as President of the University of Illinois from 2012 until his retirement in 2015. Previously he was interim chancellor, interim provost, and interim vice chancellor for research. He served as Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and prior to that as Head of the Department of Animal Sciences, where he has been a faculty member since 1976, the year he earned his doctorate in animal science. An expert in livestock feeding, Easter has co-authored a book on livestock production and has written more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, and numerous papers for conferences and industry publications. In 2006, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), and was appointed as chair of BIFAD in 2007. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Animal Science, and a member of the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineers and the Farm Foundation Roundtable. Easter was also a member of the British Society of Animal Science during his research career.