Introducing President Leath

By Anne Krapfl and Diana Pounds
January 17

 

Plant pathologist, pilot, bow hunter, Christmas tree farmer, dad, first baseman, associate ag dean, national program leader, ranch hand. And, Jan. 16, Steven Leath added another title to his life list: university president. He is the 15th person to lead Iowa State.

Leath comes to Ames from Chapel Hill, N.C., where since 2007 he served as vice president of research and sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina system. In the last year, he also served as interim vice president for academic planning for the same 16-campus system.

Since being named Iowa State president on Sept. 27, Leath has spent about 21 days in central Iowa, learning the university and meeting political leaders in Des Moines.

The right fit

While he hasn't lived in the Midwest since receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1984, Leath said earlier this month he believes that Iowa State is a good fit for him and his wife, Janet. A product himself of land-grant universities -- his three degrees all came from land-grants -- he said the "three-legged stool" mission of the land-grant remains very important to him. While some land-grants have moved away from that mission, Iowa State, he said, has not.

So, when the Leaths visited campus in late September, "we realized that not only is Iowa State the type of university we want to be at (large, public, land-grant), it is the university we want to be at," he said.

Leath also was drawn to Iowa State's commitment to undergraduate education. Noting that he wasn't as involved as an undergraduate as he wishes he'd been and that Janet was a nontraditional undergraduate student, he said Iowa State "really takes seriously its mission of educating students and making them successful, and that's important to us."

"It's not just about providing seats in classrooms and giving lectures. Iowa State does a better job of wrapping its arms around students to make sure individual students are successful, that they're engaged in the university, which translates into success."

"That's a credit to the faculty," he added.

The road to 1750 Beardshear

"I did not plan to be a university president," Leath said of his path to leadership. "Maybe these are very strategic, carefully laid out career plans for some, but they weren't for me."

From 1985 to 1998, Leath progressed through the plant pathology faculty ranks at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where he also researched disease resistance in grains, primarily wheat and oats, in the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Though not required (he had a 100 percent research appointment), he taught or presented lectures nearly every semester "because I had an interest in teaching."

When the leader of Leath's ARS research group retired, he asked Leath to take over, which he did, in a position analogous to a department chair. Two years later, the USDA invited him to Beltsville, Md., to serve as acting national program chair for grain crops. He took the job, but wasn't ready to move his family yet to the Washington, D.C., area.

Within months, N.C. State leaders succeeded in luring him back to Raleigh to serve as assistant director of the state ARS. Within two years (2003), he advanced to the director's post of the North Carolina ARS and also became associate dean of N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 2007, North Carolina system president Erskine Bowles brought him to Chapel Hill for the vice president post.

"He said I had a campus reputation for getting input, making a decision and implementing it, and that's what he wanted," Leath recalled.

Leadership: Remove the obstacles

Leath readily admits that he's "never been shy about making a decision." But, he added, "we want to be thoughtful and we want to get it right."

He credits good mentors and some very good executive leadership training programs for his success as an administrator. He also has learned a thing or two along the way:

• Recruit and retain good people. "I don't see how you can be successful as an administrator if you don't have really good people working with you. And I've been very successful in that sense."
• Focus on the success of others. "If that can be a motivator, it is often a way to become an effective administrator. I take a lot of satisfaction from the success of others. That's really what administration is about: Removing obstacles and empowering people and enabling them to be successful."

Midwestern roots

A 2-year-old Leath moved with his family from Providence, R.I., to St. Paul, Minn., where he, two brothers and a sister enjoyed a typical upper Midwest childhood. They ice skated, walked to school, gardened, visited the state fair and took summer fishing trips in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Not so typical, perhaps, was the research experience the Leath youngsters acquired in their early years. Leath's father, Kenneth, a graduate student in plant pathology at the University of Minnesota, tended research projects in greenhouses and field plots nights and weekends. The children routinely would tag along with their dad and help.

Kids in the lab

"We were exposed to agriculture and ag research pretty much weekly," Leath said. "We'd even measure the diameter of fungal colonies in petri dishes when we were just little kids."

When his father completed his degree and took a position at Pennsylvania State University, the family moved to rural State College, where Leath attended junior high and high school. He played baseball and wrestled and worked in the produce department of a local grocery. Leath said he also spent a lot of time in the mountains of central Pennsylvania fishing and hunting "deer, rabbits, pheasants and, at that time of my life, just about as often as I could."

A good school and a nice tuition incentive for the children of faculty prompted Leath to enroll at Penn State.

"I was more of a worker than anything," he said of his undergraduate years. The young plant sciences major kept busy doing research for an oat geneticist, working on horse, beef and sheep farms, and weekend bartending.

Early Iowa encounter

Leath also spent a couple of undergraduate summers working on a big cattle ranch in north central Nebraska. On Memorial Day weekend in the summer of 1976, he was cruising across Iowa en route to the ranch when he ran out of gas.

"I wasn't sure what to do," he said. "It was a holiday weekend and there were no convenience stores back then. But an Iowa farmer saw the car broken down, drove up his lane, filled me up and didn't take any money. He said all he wanted from me was a promise that if I saw someone else in that situation one day, I'd help. I had a fondness for Iowa after that, and I have tried to do as I promised."

Leath chose the University of Delaware for his master's studies. He describes Delaware as a "great experience" for several reasons -- a small grad school that brought related disciplines together and diversified his scientific base, an adviser who was a great role model . . . and Janet.

He met her while teaching an introductory plant pathology lab. She was a nontraditional student who'd gone back to school at 21 and the two "more mature" students found much to talk about during and after the lab. When the semester ended, they began dating.

"I actually told my adviser about it to make sure everything was cool," Leath said. It was. The two were married in the summer of 1981, then headed to Illinois, where Leath earned his doctorate in plant pathology.

Then it was on to North Carolina, where Leath began his university career, Janet built a thriving insurance agency from scratch and their two children were born.

Eric, now 24, is on the staff of U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, North Carolina. He works on health, education, labor and pension issues for the senator. Eric double-majored in finance and accounting at North Carolina State.

Scott, 21, a junior in management at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., spends considerable time working on the family tree farm in nearby Ashe County.

Hunter and pilot

If he finds a free moment or two, Leath said he'll try to fit in some bird hunting and bow hunting ("my two big passions"). He also hopes to get in some flying. He learned to fly single-engine planes through a North Carolina flying club.

"I like to fly," he said. "Sometimes when I'm going places [on business], I'll fly myself."

FarmVille, for real

By Diana Pounds and Anne Krapfl
January 17

Steven Leath didn't grow up on a farm.  But he's been hanging around agriculture all his life.

He and his father are one of very few father-son plant pathologists in the country. And his favorite job during his high school and college years seemed to be that of farmhand.

So perhaps it's not surprising that when Leath moved into the academic ranks at North Carolina State University, he and his wife Janet moved not to Raleigh, but to a rural acreage nearby.

From strawberries

"I wanted a farm," Leath said. Soon, the Leaths had put 10 acres of their own into production and leased land from two nearby farms. On that first farm, the Leaths grew strawberries and other crops for transplanting.

Within a few years, when the Leath youngsters, Eric and Scott, had reached middle childhood, the transplant operation gave way to a cattle operation.

"The boys were interested in agriculture, and we thought they needed some more responsibility," Leath said.  However, Dad nixed the boys' first choice for the next iteration of the family farm.

"They wanted chickens," he said. "I didn't want chickens. So we had a family meeting and decided to get cattle."

To cattle

The family started a small cow-calf operation, raising cattle and growing their own hay.

"The boys eventually took responsibility and were fattening cattle and selling them for beef," Leath said. "It became kind of a comprehensive, but small, operation. It worked out really well."

The Leath boys' entry into high school and college took a toll on the cattle business.

"I lost my two right-hand men," Leath said, of the decision to move from cattle to a tree farm.  Soon thereafter, the Leaths purchased land in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north corner of the state and were planting Fraser firs.

To Christmas trees

The tree farm now boasts 50,000 Fraser firs and is a bit of work.

 "It's not like corn," Leath explains. "Every tree is fertilized individually, sheared individually, sprayed individually."

However, Leath said he and his family have enjoyed the tree farm.

Good therapy

 "It is therapeutic. Jobs like I have are often fairly high pressure and you're with a lot of people. So sometimes it's nice to be in the tree fields."

Leath said his agricultural forays have proved useful in his academic endeavors.

"When I was overseeing agricultural research at NC State, it helped keep me current with a lot of problems farmers were facing, whether it was labor, or regulations, or marketing, or research needs."

However, the new ISU president said there's probably not an Iowa farm in his future. 

"I think the time constraints in these presidential jobs are too great," he said. "I'm trying to get one of my sons to take over the tree operation for us."

Welcome, David Trainor

January 19

 

Jan. 17 marked David Trainor's first day as Iowa State's new associate vice president for human resource services (HRS). He succeeds Carla Espinoza, who has taken phased retirement and now coordinates ISU's development of the Kuali People Management for the Enterprise project. Trainor reports to Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance.

Trainor is responsible for overseeing human resource organizational development and review, performance management, employee and labor relations, compensation, recruitment, benefits and the university child care centers.

Though new to his position, Trainor sees HRS' role at Iowa State as multifaceted.

"[HRS] is a steward of the university-employee relationship," he said. "We will maintain a focus on our employees, but the bottom line is: We are all here to serve students, to help them grow and succeed."

Trainor spent the past five years in the Connecticut State University system. He became associate vice chancellor for human resources and labor relations in 2006 and added duties as executive assistant to the chancellor in 2008. He also served six years (2000-06) as associate vice president for human resources at Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, and six years (1994-2000) for the Wachusett (Mass.) Regional School District.

Trainor earned his bachelor's degree (1990) from College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., and his law degree (1996) from the New England School of Law, Boston.

Trainor's office is in 3750 Beardshear; his phone number is 4-6866.

Working on the night crew

By Anne Krapfl
January 19

Booming enrollment means more class sections. Which means higher demand for classrooms. Which makes it difficult to find times during the workweek when those classrooms aren't in use and can be cleaned . . . unless you expand the workweek. And that's the solution Iowa State's custodial services chose.

Since Nov. 28, a newly hired five-member custodial crew has been working when even the hardiest of us is not: 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday through Friday nights. The team moves across campus, preparing auditoriums, other heavily used classrooms and Parks Library for use the next morning. Team members work in up to 15 buildings a night, removing trash, stocking restroom supplies and dust mopping gravelly floors. Once a week, each auditorium area receives additional services, such as wiped-down seats and vacuumed carpets.

The night crew doesn't replace daytime custodial service, but rather supplements it. Day teams -- some of which start as early as 4 a.m. -- focus on restrooms, corridors, entryways and smaller classrooms in those buildings.

Manager of custodial services Jon Haggard said a night team was the logical way to go. "Some of those rooms are in use from 7 a.m. to midnight," he noted. Nonacademic student activities, such as Cyclone Cinema -- which shows films (and sells concessions) in the Carver auditorium four nights a week until midnight or later -- also contribute to an after-dark demand on building spaces.

"Our customer needs are changing and we're trying to respond the best that we can," he said. "High demand on the large classrooms and auditoriums means we don't have the opportunity to shut things down during the day to get the work done."

The night team will reduce the need for catch-up cleaning efforts on Saturdays and Sundays, he added.

Year-round team

Haggard said the night team will work year-round. During breaks and summer session, when student numbers and activities diminish, the team will focus on non-daily projects, for example, carpet cleaning, stripping and refinishing floors and washing walls.

Senate considering recommendation on Design reorganization

By Erin Rosacker
January 19

At their Jan. 17 meeting, members of the Faculty Senate got their first look at the proposed reorganization plan for the College of Design. The senate will vote next month on a recommendation -- in favor or against -- to the executive vice president and provost.

The plan calls for expansion from four to seven departments, including:

• Architecture
• Community and regional planning
• Graphic design
• Industrial design
• Integrated studio arts
• Interior design
• Landscape architecture

"We had very specific strategic ideas," said Susan Bradbury, associate professor in community and regional planning and chair of the college's liaison council that developed the plan. "We wanted to enhance multidisciplinary opportunities and, particularly, be able to put together new degree options. We wanted to be able to capitalize on teaching efficiencies; we wanted to expand our research opportunities throughout the whole college; and we wanted to get more equitable opportunities and representation in visibility for all of the programs that were in the college."

She said the move would "give equal footing to all of the programs that exist within the college."  More than 83 percent of college faculty who participated in a November survey approved of the plan (77 of 122 eligible faculty voted).

Elections

Ann Marie VanDerZanden resigned as the senate's current president-elect after being named director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Suzanne Hendrich, chair of the academic affairs council and University Professor in food science and human nutrition, was elected to take over the post. Hendrich ran unopposed and immediately assumed president-elect duties.

Elections also were held for the 2012-13 president-elect. Veronica Dark, a professor in psychology, earned the majority vote. Dark, who currently serves as the senate's secretary, ran against Kevin Amidon, associate professor in world languages and cultures and Annemarie Butler, associate professor in philosophy and religious studies.

 

Other business

Senators also unanimously approved:

• A name change for the department of curriculum and instruction's educational computing minor, to learning technologies minor
• Discontinuation of the zoology graduate minor (master's of science and Ph.D.)

Ash borer preparation continues

By Erin Rosacker
January 19

Contracted crews return to campus this month to remove several ash trees, part of facilities planning and management's phased plan in preparation for the arrival of the devastating emerald ash borer.

Last winter, 36 ash trees were removed and more than 40 shade trees were planted. This time, 70 ash trees located in the north and west portions of campus and near the residence halls are scheduled for removal. Approximately 26 dead and dying pine and spruce trees also will be removed. A variety of replacement species will be planted in the spring.

"I'm looking forward to planting a diverse mix of shade trees in the University Village residential area, where 70 percent of the existing shade trees are ash species," said Rhonda Martin, FPM campus landscape architect.

Work began Jan. 16 and will continue up to three weeks, weather permitting. The tree trunks will be used in FPM's "treecycle" program. The lumber is processed and returned for furniture projects, designed and created by students, for campus buildings. The remaining parts of the trees are chipped into mulch for use in planting beds.

Cyclone Cinema announces spring lineup

By Anne Krapfl
January 19

The second semester of the Student Union Board's Cyclone Cinema brings Ethan Hunt, Sherlock Holmes, Bella Swan and Miss Piggy, among others, to the Carver Hall auditorium's big screen. The weekly series features movies released in U.S. theaters this fall and winter and provides eight showings over the extended weekend: Shows begin promptly at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday nights.

Admission is free and the public is welcome. Popcorn, bottled soda and candy ($1-$3) are sold on site.

Here's Cyclone Cinema's spring lineup:

• Jan. 26-29: The Ides of March (rated R), with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling

• Feb. 2-5: Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (PG13), Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

• Feb. 9-12: Paranormal Activity 3 (R), Christopher Nicholas Smith, Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown

• Feb. 16-19: A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (R), John Cho, Kal Penn and Neil Patrick Harris

• Feb. 23-26: The Muppets (PG), Jason Segal and Amy Adams

• March 1-4: Tower Heist (PG13), Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy

• March 8-11: New Year's Eve (PG13), Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Biel (No concessions March 10-11)

• March 22-25: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG13), Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law

• March 29-April 1: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (R), Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara

• April 5-8: Young Adult (R), Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt

• April 12-15: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (PG13), Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks

• April 19-22: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (PG13), Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg