Leath starts at ISU's helm next week

AMES -- Incoming Iowa State University President Steven Leath is getting settled on campus.

Leath moved into The Knoll, the ISU president's residence, on Thursday, Jan. 12, university officials said.

His first official day as president is Monday, Jan. 16, though that is a university holiday for Martin Luther King Day. So his first actual day in the president's office will be Tuesday, officials said.

Leath succeeds Gregory Geoffroy, who stepped down after 10 years as president but plans to remain at ISU to teach chemistry. Leath comes from the University of North Carolina, where he was vice president for research and sponsored programs.

Leath received a bachelor's degree in 1979 from Penn State University and a master's degree in 1981 from the University of Delaware, both in plant sciences, and a doctorate in plant pathology in 1984 from the University of Illinois. He will earn a base salary of $440,000 as ISU president.

Leath will teach in ISU's department of plant pathology and microbiology, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, under an appointment that was approved by the faculty and ISU Provost Betsy Hoffman. But he will not not start with an automatic tenure appointment to the faculty, as has been the case with Leath's predecessor and the other regent university presidents, the contract approved by the state regents in fall shows. Leath wanted to start without tenure, regents officials said.

Link to ISU photos