Beginning April 30, Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter and President Pro Tem Katie Mulholland will have their terms expired after both served for six years.

During the final day of a two-day Board of Regents meeting, the pair gave their thoughts on the future of the group but not before receiving awards for service.

Both members were recognized from the board for their achievements in helping raise enrollment within the state and freezing tuition as well as their general contributions.

Rastetter addressed the board with a final speech encouraging future members to retain an active mentality in order to see the reward of student success.

“It’s important to be an active oversight board, which this board has been,” Rastetter said. “The results in many ways speak for themselves.”

Given the recent state budget cuts, Rastetter hopes the regents will continue to advocate for new ways to structure tuition that put students and their families first. This will include a “tuition task force” that Rastetter requested to the board office.

The group will work to create a plan for what state tuition and public support will look like in the future.

Though only news of the Iowa State presidential search committee was given at the meeting, a search firm will be announced May 3, with a president chosen by September. At the meeting, Iowa State President Steven Leath was recognized for his achievements over his five-year stay.

This included a record-high growth in enrollment, the $425 million raised in external funding through 2016 and the creation of the ISU Forever True campaign.

Leath also reported on Iowa State as a whole, which featured several newly acquired accolades.

These included the undergraduate and graduate programs in agriculture and biosystems engineering being ranked No. 1 in the nation, a feat Leath attributes to new faculty and remodeled buildings, which increases recruitment.

Iowa State has also been recognized as the best public university value in Iowa, as well as fourth in the nation for international students, according to collegefactual.com. 

Finally, the Iowa State campus was ranked the most beautiful in Iowa, according to the Travel + Leisure magazine publication.

When Mulholland and Rastetter adjourned the meeting for their final time, Regent Larry McKibben announced his candidacy for the president of the Board of Regents. 

The regents will host a telephonic meeting on May 1 to further discuss the acquiring of new members.

The regents had met Wednesday as well,  discussing several academic changes to Iowa State as well as two recommended projects meant to repair 50-year-old systems.

Among the biggest additions was a new Crop Engineering Center slated to be established in May. Iowa State Senior Vice President and Provost Jonathan Wickert presented the project as an outgrowth of President Steven Leath’s initiative to incorporate interdisciplinary research into Iowa State education.

The center will require no tuition dollars or state appropriations and will work to increase crop disease resistance, yield and food safety. Wickert sees the project as “important not for just Iowa State and Iowa but also the world.”