Wes Jamison

Dordt professor joins advisory board Adding to a long-standing, productive relationship with Dordt College in Sioux Center, the Leopold Center welcomes one of the college’s faculty members to the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Wes Jamison, new director of Dordt’s Agricultural Stewardship Center, joined the board in August and attended his first meeting in September. Jamison represents the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities on the board.

Jamison has taken an interesting path to Iowa. He is a native of Gulfport, Florida, across Tampa Bay from Saint Petersburg, and remains a staunch supporter of the Florida Gators football team. His educational experience includes a B.S. in agricultural science, with a major in poultry science, from the Auburn University in Alabama. From there he headed west to Corvallis, Oregon, where he received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University with a dual emphasis in poultry science and agricultural politics.

In addition to his academic tasks, Jamison operates his own consulting firm, Agricultural Issues Assessment. He has worked with European and Indian agricultural companies and non-governmental organizations on community relations, as well as understanding and evaluating risk, especially the politics of biotechnology risk.

“I’m very interested in how corporate agribusiness intersects and interacts with sustainable agriculture,” Jamison said. “I also am very interested in the role agricultural biotechnology will play in sustainable agriculture.”

As director of the Sustainable Agriculture Center, Jamison will maintain the college’s vision of a Christian agricultural worldview while guiding the program’s evaluation of biotechnology, sustainable agriculture and normative agriculture. The Center anticipates that Jamison’s presence on the board will help foster additional joint ventures between the two organizations.

Jamison also is active in various professional organizations. He served as chair of the Extension Workshop Committee for the Poultry Science Association and is a member of the American Political Science Association.

As befits someone who has lived in Florida and Oregon, Jamison is an avid outdoorsman. Among his favorite sports are canoeing, hiking, bicycling and camping. With him on these adventures are his wife Angela and their four children.