Matt Liebman, who holds the Henry A. Wallace Endowed Chair for Sustainable 
Agriculture at ISU, wrote to President Geoffroy this week warning that the 
future of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture is at risk due to lack 
of stable leadership and "structural problems in the existing configuration of 
the Center's relationship with ISU." Excerpt:

Two things need to be done to put the Center back on track and foster 
circumstances that would be conducive to a national search for a permanent 
director.
First, the university administration, at multiple levels, needs to demonstrate 
its unequivocal support for the Leopold Center's three-part mandate. 
Specifically, it needs to re-affirm and embrace the Center's work in defining 
the shortcomings of current agricultural systems, developing alternatives, and 
communicating findings. Without a clear indication from the university 
administration that dissenting opinions about agricultural sustainability are 
welcome and expected, I think it will be impossible to find a nationally 
renowned permanent Center director who personifies excellence in scholarship, 
communication, and service. The absence of a national search would indicate to 
many observers that the university no longer prioritizes a vibrant and widely 
respected Leopold Center.

Second, the university administration should move supervision of the Leopold 
Center to the offices of ISU's President or Vice President for Research and 
Economic Development. I note that the ISU Office of Sustainability, which serves 
a broad range of interests on campus, is supervised by the Executive Assistant 
to the President, and that various ISU centers and institutes that similarly 
serve broad constituencies (e.g., the Iowa Water Center, the Center for 
Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, the Bioeconomy Institute, the Plant 
Sciences Institute) report to the Vice President for Research and Economic 
Development. The Loepold Center currently works with faculty and staff in five 
colleges (Design, Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and 
Agriculture and Life Sciences) and could soon work with the Colleges of Human 
Sciences and Veterinary Medicine. Thus the Center's scope of work is 
university-wide. The university would provide more prominence to the Leopold 
Center and enhance its impact by placing supervision of the Center at a higher 
administrative level, above the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

I posted the full text of Liebman's letter here:

http://www.bleedingheartland.com/diary/4621/isu-professor-sounds-alarm-about-future-of-leopold-center


I hope many ISU alumni, supporters and others with a connection to the 
university will send the same message to the administration. 



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