Iowa State University’s president says enrollment at the Ames school has been growing at a “record pace” and that’s why he’s on a hiring spree. Last year, ISU president Steven Leath approved hiring 105 new faculty members.
“We’re going to do 130 this year,” Leath says. “I think we’re the only university in the country that’s hiring that many faculty in the two-year period.”
According to the American Institutes for Research. Iowa State is the only university in the country to have reduced administrative costs while increasing the number of faculty hired over the past eight years. That trend started with former ISU president Gregory Geoffrey and continued with Leath when he took over as ISU’s president nearly three years ago.
“This is really about making sure we can teach the students,” Leath says. “And it’s also about doing research in some critical areas and so these are very targeted recruitments.”
Nearly 70 percent of all ISU classes have fewer than 20 students and to accommodate both record enrollment and more faculty, Leath ordered some administrative offices that had been on the central campus to move off campus. The move freed up 100,000 square foot of space.