Three finalists for the dean of agriculture position will visit the ISU campus in the next two weeks in what administrators hope will be the final phase of the three-year search.

The candidates are Thomas Fretz, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, College Park; Lee Sommers, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Colorado State University, Fort Collins; and Catherine O’Connor Woteki, senior research scientist with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, College Park and professor of nutrition and food safety at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Each of the three candidates will spend two days at Iowa State and will participate in an open forum, “Agriculture and College Issues, Including Diversity.”

All forums will be from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in 1204 Kildee Hall. Fretz will present today, Sommers on Nov. 5 and Woteki will speak at the forum Nov. 7.

The new dean will succeed Richard Ross, who has served as interim dean since July 2000. Ross, previously the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, took the position after David Topel, agriculture dean for 12 years, stepped down in February 2000.

The selection of the new dean will put an end to a search that has lasted since 1999, said Provost Rollin Richmond.

“The current search began during the summer of 2001,” he said. “There have been two previous attempts to find a dean beginning in 1999 and 2000.”

The university hopes these visits will lead to the naming of the new dean by the end of November, Richmond said.

“The president would like to have someone identified by Thanksgiving,” he said. “The naming of a dean requires some negotiation, but Thanksgiving is our goal.”

The dean of the College of Agriculture serves as the academic leader and executive officer of the college, as well as the director of the university’s Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, said Susan Lamont, professor and department head of animal science.

Because of the college’s size the dean also should have a great understanding of the various facets within the field of agriculture, she said.

“I believe that this person should possess a strong appreciation for the wide scope of agriculture, which encompasses facets as diverse as natural resources, economic sustainability of agriculture, quality of life in rural areas, efficiency of production and food safety and security,” Lamont said. “This person needs to have strong leadership and communication skills in order to help form and share a vision for the future of the College of Agriculture.”

Information about the candidate’s are available on the provost Web site at www.provost.iastate.edu/agdean/.