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.