The new dean of the College of Education said he plans to build leadership and teamwork at Iowa State.

Walter H. Gmelch was appointed to the position July 1.

Cathy Curtis, alumni officer for the College of Education, said Gmelch seemed tailor-made for the position.

“He has experience working as a leader in virtually every area that we focus on,” Curtis said.

“Our college is quite diverse, in that we focus on education, but we also have a department of information technology, a department of human health and performance and a department of professional studies,” she said.

Before coming to ISU, Gmelch held the position of interim dean at Washington State University. He has served as executive vice president of General TransPac Systems of San Francisco, Calif., and president of TransPac’s Airfreight division.

“We are fortunate to have someone with his background working for our department,” Curtis said. “[Gmelch] has proven leadership in the academic and the business world. And, perhaps more importantly, he has done extensive research on academic leadership.”

Gmelch directed two national studies of 1,600 university department chairs in the United States and recently completed an international study of 2,000 academic deans in Australia and America.

Gmelch said he wants to bring the education faculty together to work as a team.

“We have a solid teacher education program, but all four departments have critical needs,” he said.

Gmelch said he would also like to enhance the college’s presence and quality.

“I would like to promote climate and culture and also advance key programs throughout the state,” Gmelch said. “We have a strong staff, but there’s always room to raise the bar in terms of productivity and scholarship,” he said.

Gmelch earned his Ph.D. from the University of California in Santa Barbara, his master’s of business administration from the University of California at Berkeley and his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

He assumed the role that Camilla Benbow previously served as interim dean.