Sonny Ramaswamy

The first of four finalists for the Iowa State University president’s position visits campus today.

The first candidate to visit the Ames campus is Sonny Ramaswamy, the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

He was appointed to the job in 2012 by President Barrack Obama. Ramaswamy obtained his undergraduate and masters degrees in entomology in India and a PHD at Rutgers University.

Before taking the job in Washington, he was the director of the Oregon Agriculture Experiment Station at Oregon State University, and has held positions at several other schools. You can see more details on his background at the ISU presidential search webpage.

Ramaswamy has meetings all day on campus and then will hold an open forum from four to five p.m. in the Sun Room of the ISU Memorial Union.

Iowa State also announced that Pamela Whitten, the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Georgia  is the second finalist.  She will visit campus on Tuesday to meet with faculty, staff, students and community members.