Paul Lasley
Professor and Chair
Iowa State University Departments of Sociology and Anthropology

Address: 107 East Hall
Ames, IA 50011
Daytime phone: (515) 294-0937
Email: plasley@iastate.edu

Brief biography: 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.