Having five agricultural and biosystems engineering instructors retiring in one year won’t have adverse effects on the department, professors in the department said.

The instructors — Stu Melvin, Dwaine Bundy, Jim Baker, Jeff Lorimor and Graeme Quick — have a total of 127 years of experience at Iowa State and have played a huge role in the research and success that has taken place at Iowa State in the past years, said Steve Hoff, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

The five professors retired from the agricultural and biosystems engineering college after being offered an early retirement severance package, said Ramesh Kanwar, professor and chairman of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

Hoff said the next year will be a transitional time due to the department losing so much experience at once.

“We’ve lost four positions related to animal agriculture in water and air quality this year,” Hoff said. “These issues are huge in this state.”

Hoff said the college will also lose some time in terms of momentum in replacement programs.

Although it seems the college is losing a lot of intelligence at once, Hoff said a few of the retiring professors are planning on staying around campus for a while to finish research and help during the transition.

The retiring professors have taken part in research with sustainable agricultural systems and machinery, manure management and water and air quality.

Kanwar said the department will be affected, but only temporarily.

Kanwar said he expects the number of registered students in the department to decline as a result of the experienced professors retiring. He also expects there to be a time of conversion in the college’s extension programs.

“These professors have had relationships with the farmers around here for a long time, and it will take some time for the new professors to establish programs and build relationships in the outreach program,” Kanwar said.

He expects the upcoming year to be difficult, but he says the new teachers will be a plus for the teaching side of the college.

“The newly hired professors won’t hinder the education level at all. These teachers are great teachers with a lot of experience and impressive backgrounds,” Kanwar said.

Jacek Koziel, assistant professor at Texas A&M University and adjunct professor at West Texas A&M University; Lie Tang, assistant professor at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and Robert Burns, associate professor at the University of Tennessee, are all scheduled to begin teaching at Iowa State by the time classes resume in August.