Steven Leath will begin his duties as Iowa State’s president on Jan. 16.

As the transition from one president to the other continues, Leath is faced with multiple decisions on what direction he wishes to take his future administration.

“The first semester is really to get to know the campus better,” Leath said, who will be leaving his position as the University of North Carolina’s vice president for research and sponsored programs and the interim vice president for academic planning.

Since Leath learned he would be the new president of Iowa State, he said he has spent the time “learning administrative structure such as the budget, starting early relationships with legislatures and spent time on campus getting to know the students and staff.”

Leath and outgoing President Gregory Geoffroy have been working closely together over the past months in preparation of the transition.

“We can’t say enough positives about how Greg Geoffroy has facilitated this smooth transfer and has been working closely with Dr. Leath, letting him know what’s going on, what to look for,” said Michael Owen, past president of Iowa State’s Faculty Senate.

Leath said he is not nervous to take over the position and said that he is “excited about the whole opportunity” as he prepares to follow Geoffroy, who has been president of the university since July 1, 2001.

“I think the next 10 to 20 years are going to be a great time for land-grant universities,” Leath said. “The public is wanting more from their universities to supply solutions to problems … the good land grants like Iowa State are poised to do more things and great things over the next 10 years, and that’s what really excites me about the opportunity.”

Leath said the ISU community should not “fear any giant overhaul the first few days.”

“Iowa State is a great university,” Leath said. “There is nothing seriously broken there, so there’s no reason to be overly concerned with new leadership coming in wanting to change some things.”

The Iowa State University Strategic Plan from 2010 to 2015 outlines the goals for the mission, vision and priorities to “ensure that Iowa State University is a leading research university … “

Leath has stated that he is “not as big a fan of strategic plans as some people,” but is “far more concerned of the implementation phase to get us where we need to go.”

“If you look at the strategic plan and read those primary goals, they’re all worthwhile, admirable goals,” said Leath, who believes that by working closely with the deans of each college and faculty, he can “see what really needs to be done to achieve a specific goal.”

Leath has also spoken of his views on the increase of tuition that students across the state may be facing over the upcoming years.

“This is going to be a critical focus of my administration because this gets to the heart of public universities,” Leath said

He said he is concerned with the amount of debt students graduate with each year.

“What I worry about is if we continually raise costs, it’ll get to the point where it is either not affordable at all or the debt burden we place on students when they graduate will be so high it’s hard for them to be successful,” Leath said.

Owen said he feels that the upcoming transition will be “seamless” as the ISU community welcome Leath to the university.

“When he officially becomes the president, he’s going to hit the ground running,” Owen said.

Due to renovations at the Knoll, Leath and his family hope to officially move in the weekend before the Martin Luther King holiday.