November 4, 2011
AMES, Iowa — Catherine Kling, professor of economics at Iowa State University, has been named interim director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD).
Kling served as the division head of CARD's Resource and Environmental Policy Division before assuming the leadership position Oct. 1. Her research examines how agricultural practices affect water quality, wildlife, soil carbon content and greenhouse gases.
CARD conducts public policy and economic research on agricultural, environmental and food issues.
"CARD has a long and vibrant history and I am pleased to have been appointed CARD's interim director," Kling said. "I hope that I can help induce a smooth transition for a new director when one has been found and see the Center continue to produce high quality, academically credible policy research for many more years."
She joined Iowa State in 1993 after seven years as an agricultural economist at the University of California-Davis. Kling earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland in 1986 and a bachelor's degree in business and economics from the University of Iowa in 1981.
Kling took over for Bruce Babcock, an Iowa State professor of economics, who on Oct. 1 became Cargill Endowed Chair in Energy Economics and director of the university's Biobased Industry Center.
Kling is a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association. She serves on the board of trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute.