Nearly 20 years ago, Jerry DeWitt helped guide the newly created Leopold Center as one of its first advisory board members. For the next three years, he will help shape the Leopold Center’s third decade as its director.

DeWitt officially took over the Leopold Center helm as director January 1, 2007. He had been serving as Interim Director since November 1, 2005.

The appointment was approved by Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy following a unanimous vote by the Leopold Center’s 17-member advisory board. The board recommended that DeWitt serve as director for a three-year interim appointment through 2009.

“We believe that this interim appointment will provide continuity and a stable operation for the Leopold Center in the future,” said Paul Mugge, an organic farmer from northwest Iowa who chairs the advisory board. “Over the past year Dr. DeWitt has shown leadership and moved forward with the Center’s initiatives in ecology, marketing and food systems and policy.”

After a year’s stint as Interim Director, DeWitt said he has learned about the broad reach of the Leopold Center.
“The need for the voice of the Leopold Center is even more critical now for Iowans than it has ever been in our 20-year history,” he said. “With the rapidly changing Iowa landscape and emerging new agricultural opportunities around energy, we all must keep Iowa’s soil and water quality first as we move into new ventures. Without these precious and vital natural resources fully available for future generations, we risk short-term gains today for future generations of struggle on the land.”

DeWitt is working with staff, advisory board members and outside experts on final reviews of approximately 30 competitive grant proposals for new research and education projects, including a special call for projects that would help grass-based dairy enterprises and those that address water quality. The Center will invest nearly $1.1 million in its 2007 competitive grants program, about half for new projects and the balance for multi-year projects that began in 2005 and 2006.

Fred Kirschenmann, who was Center director for five years beginning in 2000, continues to serve as the Center’s Distinguished Fellow.

“I have been pleased to work with Dr. Kirschenmann over the past year,” DeWitt said. “Fred’s work both in Iowa and at the national level with numerous partners has been vital for the Center and for sustainable agriculture.”

Kirschenmann is actively involved in a number of projects including the creation of markets and supply chains for products from midsized farms. He also serves on the board of directors for Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area and Whiterock Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages a 1,300-acre conservation area in west-central Iowa.

In 2009, the Leopold Center Advisory Board will convene an external search committee for a new director. The board is responsible for providing the president of Iowa State University a list of three candidates from which to select a director.