The Board of Regents voted unanimously yesterday to hire the next president of Iowa State University: Steven Leath, the University of North Carolina System’s vice president of research.

According to the Ames Daily Tribune, many people involved with the hiring process spoke highly of both finalists for the job. (I’ve enclosed short bios of Leath and University of Kentucky provost Kumble Subbaswamy at the end of this post.) It sounds as if Leath’s strong fundraising background tipped the scales in his favor:

For five years, Leath has worked in the UNC System’s top research post. During his tenure he helped develop a research campus in Kannapolis, N.C., focused on health and nutrition and has worked with a number of UNC campuses on research initiatives.

Leath detailed these achievements during his opening statement in his interview with the Regents Tuesday and said he would use the lessons he’s learned from working at a land grant university to help him succeed as ISU’s president. Regent President Craig Lang said Leath’s fundraising record was “very important” to their decision and said Leath’s background in agriculture research as well as his role in building UNC’s technology transfer programs make him a perfect fit for ISU.

Similarly, the Des Moines Register reported,

Throughout the interview process, Leath touted his fundraising and work in developing a research park in North Carolina that revitalized the local economy of a struggling mill town.

Leath said he would work to spur economic development by focusing on ISU’s land-grant mission to deliver science and technology research to Iowa residents.

He also said improved communication with students, citizens, legislators and business leaders is essential for ISU to thrive in coming decades.

Lang said the board had extensive discussions with Leath about the importance of fostering diversity and staying connected to the student body.

Lang is also president of the Iowa Farm Bureau. I hope that Leath will be open-minded enough to support diversity in agricultural research at ISU. His predecessor, Gregory Geoffroy, was a strong fundraiser but stood by for years while the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture suffered from a lack of stable leadership and support.

Any comments on Leath’s hiring or ISU in general are welcome in this thread.

P.S.-WHO TV reporter Dave Price takes the prize for the most ridiculous blog post I’ve seen lately, as he breathes a sigh of relief that the Regents didn’t force him to learn how to pronounce Subbaswamy’s name.

Short bio of Steven Leath:

Steven Leath has been vice president for research and sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina system since 2007. He’s also interim vice president for academic planning. At North Carolina State, he held several positions, including associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the NC Agricultural Research Service. He also was a research leader and plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service; and extension plant pathologist at University of Illinois, Urbana.

Leath helped develop the North Carolina Research Campus, a private-public venture that fosters advancements in biotechnology, nutrition and health.

Leath received plant sciences degrees — a bachelor’s (1979) from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, and master’s (1981) from the University of Delaware, Newark — and a doctorate in plant pathology (1984) from the University of Illinois.

Short bio of Kumble Subbaswamy:

Kumble Subbaswamy has been provost of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, since 2006. The professor of physics also is executive director of the University of Kentucky Research Foundation. He has served as professor and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at two universities — Indiana University, Bloomington; and the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. In a previous stint at Kentucky, he held positions of department chair, associate dean, director of graduate studies and professor. He also was a research associate at the University of California-Irvine.

Subbaswamy implemented a “War on Attrition” program at Kentucky that resulted in a 6 percent boost in first-year retention over three years. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (condensed matter physics).

He received three physics degrees — a bachelor’s (1969) from Bangalore University, Bangalore, Karnataka State, India; a master’s (1971) from Delhi University, India; and a doctorate (1976) from Indiana University, Bloomington.