Steven Leath (born 1957) is an American academic administrator. He was president of

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

from 2012 to 2017, when he became president of Auburn University. He resigned from his position at Auburn in 2019.

Early life and education

Leath was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, moving to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

at the age of two. Leath later moved again to central

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, where he took up a number of sports, including

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/ tusks, horn/ a ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

. He obtained his bachelor's degree from

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

in 1979, studying plant science. Two years later he received his M.S. in

plant pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...

from the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 m ...

, and a Ph.D. in plant pathology and phytopathology from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

in 1984.

Career

Prior to his position at Iowa State, Leath was vice president for research for the 16-campus

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sys ...

system. In 2013, he established 'ISU 4 Promise.' This program commits Iowa State to pay the college tuition of disadvantaged students from local elementary schools. A notable event that occurred during Leath's tenure at Iowa State was his decision to permanently end Veishea after 2014. This was due to continued problems with violence that occurred during the festival, especially a series of violent disturbances that led to his suspending Veishea halfway through the festival in 2014. After five years at Iowa State, Leath was named the president of Auburn University in 2017. While he was praised for record enrollment and investment in campus infrastructure, he was also criticized for personal use of a university aircraft. During Leath's tenure, Auburn was designated an 'R1' institution by the

Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, or simply the Carnegie Classification, is a framework for classifying colleges and universities in the United States. It was created in 1970 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Adv ...

. The designation is reserved for doctoral universities with the highest levels of research activity. In 2018, Leath was appointed to the

National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President and the Congress. The NSB also serves as an ...

. In June 2019, he resigned from Auburn, which paid him a $4.5 million

severance Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), ...

. In 2021, he was named the executive director of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports.

Personal life

Leath and his wife have two sons, Eric and Scott. An Instrument-rated pilot, Leath damaged a

Cirrus SR-22 The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine four- or five-seat composite aircraft built from 2001 by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota. It is a development of the Cirrus SR20, with a larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and a more powerful, 310-horsepo ...

in 2016 owned by Iowa State while landing in gusty conditions in Bloomington, IL. The ensuing controversy about the use of school property for personal travel, and the fact that the school paid for the damage, led to Leath publicly declaring that he would no longer fly state-owned aircraft.

References

University of Delaware alumni University of Illinois alumni Pennsylvania State University alumni Presidents of Iowa State University Living people University of North Carolina administrators 1957 births Presidents of Auburn University {{US-academic-bio-stub