ISU faculty react to new president

Beate Schmittman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“Dr. Wintersteen is familiar with Iowa State University and highly respected on campus and around the state.  She is genuinely committed to the success of our students and to serving ISU faculty and staff and the citizens of Iowa,” said dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Beate Schmittman.

 
“Wendy [Wintersteen] has been a very innovative dean at the College of Agriculture and Life Science,” said David Spalding, dean of the College of Business. He said he was excited and impressed by Wendy’s ability to bring high numbers of woman into the college making it a diverse student body.
 
“I am thrilled to have Dr. Wintersteen as our new president. For me, as a woman who has spent my career in very male dominated fields it is historic not only to serve under a female president but for the majority of people in my reporting chain to be women,” said Caroline Hays, department chair of mechanical engineering. “Today, the women in ISU’s mechanical engineering program have a woman serving as their department chair, dean and president. It’s hard to beat that.” “I feel this fundamentally changes the sense of belonging for young women in my program, and the way in which they envision their future career options.”
 
“Its a great opportunity for Iowa State because of Wendy’s long standing affiliation with the university and has a role in really making agriculture college and agriculture engineering as one of the best in the nation. I think that we have a great chance for her to continue doing great things for us.”
“With her chosen she has much deeper understanding of issues compared to people coming from outside, so that will also help us resolve problems particularly those related to budget and other restructuring that is going on.” said Ashfaq Khokhar, department chair of computer engineering.