Wendy Wintersteen

Dr. Wendy Wintersteen became the 16th president of Iowa State University on Nov. 20, 2017, after a nationwide search, followed by a unanimous vote of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. The first woman to hold the university’s highest office, Dr. Wintersteen has served Iowa State for nearly 40 years in several capacities. After working in eastern and central Iowa as one of the first female ISU Extension associates in integrated pest management, Dr. Wintersteen completed her doctorate in entomology at Iowa State. Rising through the ranks to become a professor of entomology (with a brief stint at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.), she then assumed a number of administrative roles in extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Most recently, Dr. Wintersteen served for eleven years as the endowed dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. Dr. Wintersteen holds a bachelor’s of science degree in crop production from Kansas State University and Ph.D. in entomology from Iowa State University. She is married to Robert Waggoner, author and former businessman.