Former Iowa State University President Martin Jischke says Sally Mason is a good choice to take over as president at the University of Iowa. Jischke left Iowa State to become president of Purdue, and Mason served under Jischke as provost of Purdue before being named to the Iowa job Thursday.
Jischke calls Mason an "extraordinarily talented academic leader" who has played a "pivotal role" in the progress Purdue has made. "I think the Hawkeyes and the people of Iowa have attracted a very, very able academic leader, and I know they will be pleased with Sally Mason," Jischke says. Experience in the health sciences was one of the key requirements of the committee looking for the new U-I president.
Jischke says Purdue has a nursing and pharmacy school as well as other areas in the field that Mason was involved in. Jischke says they offer the first two years of a medical degree in collaboration with Indiana University, they have biomedical engineering, a new center for health care engineering, collaborations with the University of Iowa Medical School, and a cancer research center. Jischke says Mason also served on a number of boards of health care groups while at Purdue.