Advisory Board
The 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act that created the Leopold Center, established a board to advise the director on funding of research proposals, policies and procedures, budget development and program review. In 1994, four ex-officio members active in farming and agribusiness were added to the board and received full voting privileges in 1999.
The board includes representatives from Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and a man and a woman actively engaged in agricultural production, appointed by the State Soil Conservation Committee. The board also includes representatives from four Iowa farm groups: Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Agribusiness Association of Iowa and the Iowa Farmers Union.
The advisory board meets four times each year. See our calendar for details about the next meeting.
John Olthoff
Chair; Professor, Dordt College
olthoff@dordt.edu(712) 722-6000
498 4th Avenue NE
Sioux Center, IA 52150
He represents the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Olthoff teaches a range of courses in animal science and courses that support the general requirements of the college. He also is associated with the College's Agriculture Stewardship Center. Olthoff also chairs the Sioux County Extension Council and is a member of the Sioux Center Christian School board and involved with Laotian ministry. He has a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Nebraska, an M.S. in animal science from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. in biology from Trinity Christian College.
Bill Ehm
Vice-chair; Environmental Protection Division administrator, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
william.ehm@dnr.iowa.gov(515) 281-4701
Wallace State Office Building
502 East Ninth Street
Des Moines, IA 50319-0050
Ehm represents the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. He was named administrator for the Environmental Protection Division in July 2011. Formerly DNR's Water Policy Director, he led the development of a statewide strategy to create a water use plan that addresses water quality and quantity issues, from transportation and water-based recreation to flood plain management, water supplies, allocation and conservation policies. He also worked with Iowa's impaired waters program. Prior to his work with the DNR, Ehm was director of the Soil Conservation Division of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Before joining state government, Ehm was a full-time farmer in southern Iowa for about 20 years and had served on the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission. He has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from Iowa State University and a MBA from Drake University. He is a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and the AM Rotary Club of Des Moines, and a former school board member. He and his wife Rose Ann live in West Des Moines but continue to own a cash grain farm in Clinton County and a broiler chicken operation in Union County.
Keith Summerville
Member-at-large; Associate professor, Drake University
keith.summerville@drake.edu(515) 271-2265
Olin Hall, Drake University
Des Moines, IA 50311
Summerville represents the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. He teaches courses in conservation biology, entomology, restoration ecology, sustainable development and zoology as well as a beginning course, Foundations of Environmentalism. A native of Richfield, Ohio, he has an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Westminster College in Pennsylvania. He earned a master's degree in engineering and a Ph.D. in zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
He also serves as associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at Drake. Since joining the faculty in 2002, he has tackled a number of research projects on Iowa ecosystems. He's studied the prairie moths that pollinate environmentally-threatened western fringed prairie orchid in central Iowa, and reptiles in Polk County's Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt and the Sandhill Prairie. He also received a USDA Managed Ecosystems Program grant to research restoration of prairie insect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
In 2005, Summerville joined the Iowa Audubon Society board of directors and has developed plans for its Iowa Important Bird Areas. He advises the Chichaqua Greenbelt advisory committee as they critique and revise a 10-year master plan for prairie and wetland restorations. He is a member of the Des Moines Urban Conservation Advisory Board and Polk County Conservation Advisory Board.
Joe Colletti
Associate Dean, Iowa State University
colletti@iastate.edu(515) 294–1823
College of Agriculture, 138 Curtiss Hall
Ames, IA 50011-1050
Colletti represents Iowa State University on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Colletti joined Iowa State in 1978 as a faculty member in the forestry department. He was named interim chair of the natural resource ecology and management department in 2004. In 2006, he was named senior associate dean of the College of Agriculture, after serving on an interim basis since 2005.
He has a bachelor's degree in forestry from Humbolt State University in California, a master of science degree and a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin.
Dan Frieberg
Co-owner and manager, Premier Crop Systems LLC
dan@premiercrop.com2037 Grand Avenue Suite C
West Des Moines, IA 50265
Frieberg represents the Agribusiness Association of Iowa on the Leopold Center Advisory Board, He and his wife Kate are co-owners and managers of Premier Crop Systems LLC. The company helps customers, commercial growers and agronomists who manage more than 2 million acres of farmland in several Midwestern states understand and analyze precision ag data from yield monitors and numerous other sources.
An Iowa native, Frieberg grew up on a small livestock/crop farm near Fairfield. In 1978, he received his B.S. in Farm Operations from Iowa State University, and he and Kate purchased a retail agribusiness that they operated until 1981. He was employed at the Agribusiness Association of Iowa from 1989 to 1995, then was an independent business consultant until starting Premier Crop Systems in 1999.
Doug Gronau
Farmer
dgronau@arcadiatel.coop(712) 677-2364
3245 K Avenue
Vail, IA 51465
Gronau represents the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. For the Farm Bureau, he represents 11 counties in west central Iowa. He farms with his wife, Judy, and their son, Greg. They grow corn, soybeans, and hay in a system that has been no-till since 2003.
The Gronaus are members of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and Iowa Soybean Association. They have participated in the soybean association's Certified Environmental Management Systems for Agriculture (CEMSA) program, a process by which participants can measure the impact of current practices to reduce energy use and use of commercial fertilizers. Their farm also is enrolled in a carbon credit program.
Gronau has a degree in history and economics from Wayne State college in Nebraska. Since joined the Crawford County Farm Bureau in 1974, he has served in numerous leadership capacities including the federation's speaker corps and on several statewide environmental committees. He has served on the county extension council and is a member of the Crawford County Board of Adjustments.
Maynard Hogberg
Professor and department chair, Iowa State University
hogberg@iastate.edu(515) 294-2160
1221 Kildee Hall
Ames, IA 50011-3150
Hogberg represents Iowa State University on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Hogberg chairs the ISU Department of Animal Science and has been a member of the ISU faculty since 2003. He also chaired the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State from 1984 through 2002. His work has focused on swine extension, swine management, and applied research in swine nutrition and management.
He is a native of Red Oak and a graduate of ISU, where he earned B.S., M.S. and doctorate degrees in animal nutrition.
He and his wife, Anne, have a son, Michael, and a daughter, Emily.
Erin Irish
Associate professor, University of Iowa
erin-irish@uiowa.edu(319) 335-2582
Department of Biological Sciences, 143 Biology
Iowa City, IA 52246
Irish represents the University of Iowa on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. She is a corn geneticist; she grows and hand-pollinates approximately a half-acre of corn each summer for her experiments. Her work addresses a basic question in biology about how plants develop. A native of Ohio, she has lived in Iowa since 1990.
She and her husband have begun to restore a 40-acre pasture in Cedar County to the oak savannah that it once was by removing invasive species of plants and introducing locally collected seeds of native species.
She has a bachelor's degree in biology from Hiram College in Ohio and a Ph.D. from Indiana University with post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Results of her research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the USDA, have appeared in numerous scientific journals and presented at conferences throughout the United States.
Laura Jackson
Professor, University of Northern Iowa
Laura.L.Jackson@uni.edu(319) 273-2705
Biology Research Complex 35
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Jackson represents the University of Northern Iowa on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. She is professor of biology at the University of Northern Iowa, and is one of two representatives from UNI on the Leopold Center advisory board. She received her bachelor's degree in biology from Grinnell College, and a Ph.D. in ecology (and a minor in agronomy) from Cornell University.
She teaches courses in ecology and environmental studies and does research on the restoration of biological diversity in agricultural landscapes. She is coeditor with Dana Jackson of The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems and Ecosystems (2002) and has given many presentations on this topic to scientific, farm organization and general audiences in the United States and Australia. She has served on the Leopold Center advisory board since 2003.
She is married to Kamyar Enshayan, and they are raising two daughters.
Susan Jutz
Farmer, Solon ZJ Farm and Local Harvest
susan@zjfarms.com(319) 624-3052
5025 120th Street Northeast
Solon, IA 52333-9155
Jutz represents Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. She owns and operates ZJ Farm and the Local Harvest CSA near Solon in eastern Iowa. On 80 acres she raises vegetables to supply a 250-member CSA enterprise, plus she direct-markets lambs from 40 ewes every year. She follows organic practices and uses rotational grazing for her livestock.
Jutz is a past president of PFI, and has participated in on-farm research trials. She also is a member of the advisory board for the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and is actively involved in the development of local food networks for low-income and special needs families. She works with the Local Foods Connection, a private nonprofit group in Iowa City that is active in addressing local food issues.
She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota; and a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota. She has four sons, two of whom provide help with the CSA operation.
Paul Lasley
Professor and department chair, Iowa State University
plasley@iastate.edu(515) 294-0937
107 East Hall
Ames, IA 50011
Lasley represents Iowa State University on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Lasley has been an ISU Extension sociologist since 1981. His research focuses on the organization of U.S. agriculture and how changes in agriculture affect rural communities. A major focus examines trends in rural culture and what these trends suggest about the future of rural communities, families and social organizations.
Lasley also is co-investigator of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, a series of statewide surveys among farm operators on major agricultural and rural development issues. Areas of research and extension expertise include rural development, community development, sustainable agriculture, and leadership in agriculture.
He grew up on a farm in northern Missouri and holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His undergraduate work was in animal husbandry. Lasley also is a board member for Youth and Shelter Services and a deacon at the United Church of Christ-Congregational in Ames.
Aaron Heley Lehman
Farmer
alehman@iowatelecom.net(515) 685-3228
3190 NW 142nd Avenue
Polk City, IA 50226
Lehman represents the Iowa Farmers Union on the Leopold Center Advisory Board.
Lehman is a sixth generation farmer in northern Polk County, where he has a corn-soybean-hay operation. He is a member of the Iowa Farmers Union, formerly its executive director and legislative director. He also is a member of the North Polk Community School District and is a teacher and choir member at his church. He has a bachelor's degree in physics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
George Malanson
Professor, University of Iowa
george-malanson@uiowa.edu(319) 335-0540
316 Jessup Hall/University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1316
On the advisory board Malanson represents the University of Iowa, where holds the Coleman-Miller Professorship, the highest honor in the University of Iowa’s Department of Geography. In addition to teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes, Malanson conducts research that integrates landscape ecology, climate change and geography. His 1993 book, Riparian Landscapes (Cambridge University Press), largely based on research in Iowa, is a standard textbook in landscape ecology programs and among professionals.
His research projects have taken him all over the world, from a study of carbon sequestration and alternative land use in southern Illinois, agricultural practices over time in the rice fields in northeastern Thailand and the effects of climate change on the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains.
Malanson has worked on a number of research grants with the National Science Foundation, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. He is a co-author of a book that documents climate change in Glacier National Park, The Changing Alpine Treeline (2009 Elsevier Science). He is currently on the editorial board of three technical journals.
He lives in Iowa City with his wife, Mary McCoy Malanson.
Patrick Pease
Associate professor and department chair, University of Northern Iowa
patrick.pease@uni.edu(319) 273-2772
Department of Geography, 205 ITTC
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0406
Pease represents the University of Northern Iowa on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. He has been a member of the UNI faculty since September 2006 with a research focus in geomorphology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, aerosols and dust, and geochemistry.
From 1998 to 2006 he was associate professor in the East Carolina University geography department, where he had conducted a number of research projects including a study of wind erosion in farm fields and soil erosion in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. In addition to teaching, he has worked as a research assistant on two National Science Foundation projects, including a study of streambank erosion from the Upper Mississippi flood in 1993.
He has a a Ph.D. in geography from Texas A&M (1998), master of arts (1994) and bachelor of science (1991) degrees in geology from Indiana State University. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award from the National Council of Geographic Education. He also edited the North Carolina Geographer from 2000 to 2005.
John Sellers, Jr.
Farmer
jsellers@grm.net(641) 872-2657
1451 170th Street
Corydon, IA 50060-8906
Sellers represents the State Soil Conservation Committee on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. He returns to the board after a three-year absence during which he served as a coordinator for the Leopold Center’s Grassland Agriculture Program. The program was set up as a special project of the Center’s Ecology Initiative to provide one-on-one technical assistance for Iowa producers interested in grass-based agriculture and to better connect the Center with partners involved in this type of agriculture. An early adopter of rotational grazing and biomass production in Wayne County, Sellers continues to manage 240 acres for forage production and wildlife habitat. He served more than 33 years on the Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District board, and is serving a second six-year term on the State Soil Conservation Committee. He is chair of the Iowa Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative and past president of the Iowa Forage and Grasslands Council. He lives on the farm with his wife Jean.
Jennifer Steffen
Farmer
jsteffen@netins.net(641) 680-1731
14770 Jewell Avenue
Birmingham, IA 52535
She represents the State Soil Conservation Committee on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. A native of New York, she owns a 522-acre farm in Van Buren County, which has been farmed with continuous no-till since 1980. She has worked as a full-time farmer in Iowa for more than 20 years, and operates the farm with assistance from her two sons. In May 2001, she was appointed to represent southeast Iowa on the State Soil Conservation Committee. She has a bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Georgia and is working on a master's degree in agriculture at Iowa State University. She has served as a commissioner or assistant commissioner for the Van Buren County Soil and Water Conservation District since 1995.
Maury Wills
Bureau chief, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
maury.wills@iowaagriculture.gov(515) 281-5783
502 E. Ninth Street
Des Moines, IA 50319
Wills represents the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) on the Leopold Center Advisory Board. For the past 10 years, Wills has helped develop the IDALS organic program and now administers organic certification throughout the state. He is past president and current board member of the National Association of State Organic Programs.
Wills and his family own and operate a certified organic apple orchard near Adel in rural Dallas County. They own about 60 acres, planting the first trees in 1992. They have expanded their orchard business to include on-farm processing of organic apple products and agritourism activities such as U-pick pumpkins, hay rack rides, group events and tours.
A beekeeper, Wills also oversees the state's apiary registration and inspection programs for IDALS and the Farm to School program. He is a board member of the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
He has an undergraduate degree in social work from Iowa State University and a master's in counseling from Drake University.
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture |
Ames, Iowa 50011 |
(515) 294-3711 |
leocenter@iastate.edu