Ruth MacDonald has been named associate dean for personnel and finance for Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, effective July 1.
MacDonald currently serves as professor and chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, a position she has held since joining the university in 2004. MacDonald formerly served in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences leadership as Interim Senior Associate Dean, Interim Associate Director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station and Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs.
In her new role, MacDonald will provide the dean, department chairs and other unit directors with strategic guidance and counsel on personnel and finance initiatives, opportunities and challenges. Working in collaboration with the dean and other associate deans, she will allocate resources to achieve the college’s teaching, research, extension and outreach, global and partnership objectives and improve organizational effectiveness.
“Dr. MacDonald brings a wealth of leadership experience to this new role in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,” said Daniel J. Robison, holder of the endowed dean’s chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Her rich skill set fostering a collegial work environment, maximizing resources, empowering staff to address and solve problems, implementing efficiencies and optimizing tasks will be a great asset to the college.”
MacDonald holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Western Maryland College (currently McDaniel College). She earned her master’s degree in nutrition/physiology and Ph.D. in nutrition/food science at the University of Minnesota.
Lorraine Lanningham-Foster will serve as interim chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. The department is co-administered with the College of Human Sciences. Lanningham-Foster, an associate professor, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Her research focuses on understanding the relationship between diet, physical activity and pediatric obesity.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of the world’s leading institutions of agriculture, with more than 160 years of leadership in science, education and extension. The college has 284 tenured and tenure eligible faculty and 433 professional and scientific staff members in 15 departments. Eight of those departments are co-administered with another college.