Professor and Chair - Department of Economics

Iowa State University•Ames, IA

About The Position

Iowa State University’s Department of Economics seeks a Professor and Chair to provide strategic leadership and serve as the department’s chief academic and administrative officer. Jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS), the department integrates agricultural economics and general economics. It supports undergraduate programs in Agricultural Business, Economics, and Business Economics, and graduate programs in Economics and Agricultural Economics, with work spanning teaching, research, extension, outreach, and service. The Chair advances the department’s missions and strategic priorities, promotes excellence across its activities, facilitates strategic hiring, supports the development and success of faculty, staff, and students, stewards resources, and enhances the department’s visibility and impact. The Chair reports jointly to the Deans of CALS and LAS and participates collaboratively in both college leadership teams. The role involves working with university and college administrators, department members, alumni, industry partners, community stakeholders, and other external constituencies. The initial Chair appointment is for five years and is subject to review under university policy. It is an at-will administrative appointment and is expected to be a nine-month faculty appointment, with summer salary provided while serving as Chair. The anticipated workload is approximately 80–85% administration and leadership and 15–20% scholarly, teaching, research, extension, outreach, and/or service activities; responsibilities may be adjusted to meet departmental and institutional needs. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States on an ongoing basis without sponsorship; immigration sponsorship is unavailable. The department has approximately 33 faculty members and 7 staff members and serves approximately 450 undergraduate and 55 graduate students. Its faculty conduct nationally and internationally recognized research across economics, agricultural economics, and environmental and resource economics. Iowa State University states that it is committed to continued investment in the department, including strategic investment in faculty and academic programs.

Requirements

Ph.D. in Economics, Agricultural Economics, or a closely related discipline.
Established record of scholarship, teaching, and service sufficient to qualify for appointment with tenure at the rank of Professor at Iowa State University.
Legal authorization to work in the United States on an ongoing basis without sponsorship; immigration sponsorship is not available.

Nice To Haves

Leadership experience in an academic, research, administrative, or organizational setting.
Experience in strategic planning and organizational leadership.
Budget and fiscal management experience.
Experience recruiting, developing, evaluating, and retaining faculty and staff.
Experience with undergraduate and graduate program development and student success initiatives.
Research leadership, including extramural funding and graduate student mentoring.
Experience in extension, outreach, policy engagement, or public scholarship.
Ability to build interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships.
Effectiveness in collaboration, communication, and relationship building.
Experience working with industry, government, nonprofit organizations, alumni, and other stakeholders.
Experience leading organizations with multiple constituencies and complex administrative relationships.
Effectiveness within shared governance and consultative academic decision-making.

Responsibilities

Provide collaborative, strategic, and innovative leadership in advancing the department’s mission and strategic priorities.
Lead departmental planning and continuous improvement for long-term success.
Foster excellence, innovation, accountability, and collegiality across the department’s mission areas.
Serve as an active, collaborative member of the CALS and LAS leadership teams.
Recruit, retain, mentor, develop, and evaluate faculty and staff.
Support faculty achievement in teaching, research, extension, outreach, and service.
Lead promotion and tenure, post-tenure review, faculty advancement, annual evaluations, and professional development initiatives.
Advance the department’s research enterprise and scholarly reputation, including support for extramural funding and impactful research programs.
Steward Agriculture Experiment Station activities and ensure compliance with related reporting requirements.
Promote excellence in extension and outreach and strengthen stakeholder engagement in Iowa and beyond.
Encourage interdisciplinary collaboration within the department, across colleges, and with external partners.
Promote excellence and innovation in undergraduate and graduate education and support continuous improvement of academic programs.
Champion student recruitment, retention, mentoring, and success, and foster effective teaching and student learning.
Steward departmental financial, personnel, and physical resources; provide sound fiscal leadership; and ensure compliance with university and college policies.
Allocate resources in support of departmental priorities and ensure efficient and effective operations.
Support effective departmental governance and communicate with faculty, staff, students, college leadership, and other stakeholders.
Represent and advocate for the department within the university and to external constituencies.
Build and strengthen relationships with alumni, industry leaders, professional organizations, public agencies, and other partners.
Promote the department’s strengths, accomplishments, and impact locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally.