Regents expect to name Iowa State president today

The full Board of Regents on Monday morning met with a 21-member search committee to discuss feedback and its perceptions of finalists for the Iowa State University presidency, and it will spend the rest of the day conducting final interviews with the candidates.

The board expects to announce a 16th ISU president about 5 p.m.

The new president will succeed former ISU head Steven Leath, who left in May to assume the presidency at Auburn University in Alabama. Former University of Northern Iowa President Ben Allen has been serving as interim ISU president while the search processed has unfolded.

The search committee tasked with recruiting candidates and identifying finalists in September whittled a pool of 64 applicants down to seven semifinalists. Following off-site interviews with those prospects, the committee advanced four to participate in final interviews, including campus visits and public town halls.

They were: Sonny Ramaswamy, who is serving a six-year term as director of the National Institute of Food Agriculture; Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Georgia Athens; Dale Whittaker, provost and executive vice president at Central Florida University; and Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of its Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station.

On Thursday, however, Whittaker withdrew his name from consideration, saying, 'At this time, I'm committed to keeping our momentum moving forward at the University of Central Florida.”

He did not respond to a request for additional comment from The Gazette. Board of Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said Whittaker did not submit his withdrawal in written form, but rather made a phone call.

Iowa State's new president will become the third new regent university head in Iowa in two years. Former IBM businessman Bruce Harreld succeeded Sally Mason as University of Iowa president in fall 2015, and Montana State University Billings Chancellor Mark Nook succeeded Bill Ruud as UNI president in December 2016.

Monday's announcement also comes days after the Board of Regents announced its hire of Mark Braun to replace Bob Donley as its executive director. Donley left in July, and the regents last week identified Braun - who was the board's chief operating officer - as the sole finalist to replace him.

According to Braun's three-year contract, his base salary will comply with the Legislative cap for the position of $154,300, but he'll also receive a $185,000 recruitment incentive to be paid out in four installments over 18 months.

The contract also allows the board to offer additional compensation, perhaps through deferred compensation plans or performance incentives.