A new agronomy chairman is ready to expand his department’s faculty involvement in teaching undergraduates.

Kendall Lamkey, professor of agronomy, will become interim department chairman Wednesday when he replaces Steven Fales, professor and chairman of agronomy.

Fales, who has been the department chairman since 2001, was recently named associate director of Office of Biorenewables Programs at Iowa State, and leaves the department to Lamkey, whom he hired in 2002.

Lamkey was appointed department chairman for two years, and is looking to expand undergraduate curriculum and involve more faculty in undergraduate teaching in the department of about 350 students.

Fales said students would probably not notice any major changes resulting from the appointment.

“Leadership at this level rarely affects the students,” Fales said. “It’s not going to be something the students are going to notice.”

Lamkey said on a day-to-day basis, undergraduate students wouldn’t feel the impact he and other department chairpersons have, but that many decisions he will make indirectly affect the students’ academic careers.

“One of our biggest concerns as a department that does impact students is curriculum,” he said. “It is certainly one of the top priorities in the college. I think one of the things that I do that has the most significant impact on students is how we evolve curriculum.”

The challenge in adjusting the department’s curriculum is to find the right balance between necessary educational classes and classes of more interest to students, Lamkey said.

Agronomy professor Randy Killorn said hiring new faculty is also a challenge the department chairman faces, and would be one of the biggest ways students will feel the impact of their new chairman.

“Do they affect students? Absolutely,” Killorn said. “If the head is hiring people that are interested in teaching, that affects students. If the department head is hiring people that are basically only interested in research, that affects students, too.”

Another challenge facing the department is increasing the interaction between agronomy research faculty and undergraduate students. Traditionally, Lamkey said, there has been a separation between research and undergraduate teaching. He hopes to change that, and to expose students to a wider variety of career paths.

“It’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” he said.

Lee Burras, associate professor of agronomy, said he’s enthused about Lamkey’s desire to see more faculty members involved in teaching and research.

“You know, ultimately to be a professor at a university requires that we be scientists and it also requires we profess,” he said. “I think it’s a great idea to see more teachers involved. Most of the faculty is willing to do it. It’s just a matter of making the right match. It’s making the right match with research and curriculum.”