Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Nationwide search begins for Center director

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2011

Iowa State University has begun a nationwide search for the next director of the Leopold Center.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy appointed Sharron Quisenberry, ISU Vice President of Research and Economic Development, to chair the search committee. Four ISU faculty who are familiar with the Leopold Center are on the search committee, as well as four members of the Leopold Center Advisory Board, which represents various sectors including Iowa’s public and private universities, state agencies and several farm organizations.

Members of the committee are:

  • Bill Ehm, water policy coordinator, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Leopold Center Advisory Board member;
  • Dan Frieberg, West Des Moines businessman and advisory board member;
  • Matt Helmers, ISU associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering;
  • Catherine Kling, ISU professor of economics and head of Resource and Environmental Policy Division, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development;
  • Matt Liebman, Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable Agriculture and ISU professor of agronomy;
  • Ann McCarthy, ISU state relations officer;
  • James Russell, ISU professor of animal science;
  • Jennifer Steffen, chair of the advisory board, and Birmingham farmer; and
  • Keith Summerville, associate professor of environmental science and policy and associate dean, Drake University College of Arts and Sciences, and advisory board member.

Applications for the position are due October 1. On-campus interviews are expected to be held in November. After the search process concludes, President Geoffroy will select the director from a list of candidates provided by the advisory board, as outlined in the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act that established the Leopold Center.

The position description is similar to what was used in the 2009 search, and can be viewed on the Leopold Center website.

Back to Leopold Letter Summer 2011