Jischke talks about decision to leave Ames

Out-going Iowa State University President Martin Jischke started saying his farewells yesterday when he returned to the Ames campus after accepting the top job at Purdue. Jischke and his wife met with the media in the I-S-U Memorial Union. He says he’s enormously proud to have worked at Iowa State for nearly 10 years. Jischke set a goal of making Iowa State the best land grant college in the country. He says the work of a great university is never finished. He says he takes pride in shaping the will to get better.During a news conference in West Lafayette, Indiana, Jischke said disappointing state government support of I-S-U made it easier to leave for Purdue. Jischke has been a vocal critic of the Iowa Legislature’s decision to approve an operating budget for I-S-U that’s less than last year’s. Jischke said yesterday, though, the budget situation wasn’t the reason he left. He says it was a career decision he made for many other reasons.