The Iowa Board of Regents named Wendy Wintersteen the 16th president of the university Monday afternoon in Ames. The successor to controversial ISU President Steven Leath was chosen from a field of more than 60 applicants.
Michael Richards, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, introduced Wintersteen at a 5 p.m. press conference in Ames, calling her “one of the Cyclones’ own.” Richards said selecting university presidents is “the single most important things the board does.”
Wintersteen said she was “honored and humbled” by the appointment. “I can’t wait to get to work,” she said.
Wintersteen was chosen by the Regents over two other finalists for the job, Sonny Ramaswamy and Pamela Whitten. In her position as dean of the college of agriculture and life sciences at ISU, Wintersteen has herself been a staunch supporter of industrial agriculture, and many Big Ag corporations have poured millions of dollars into research at ISU.
