Cook holds listening session with P&S Council

President David Cook brought his Listen, Learn, Lead initiative to the April 2 meeting of the Professional and Scientific (P&S) Council. 

"Before you tell anyone what your big, bold vision is, maybe you should listen and learn a little bit," Cook said. "That's what I'm doing, through the first 100 days. But I'll keep doing it."

Assisted by a live polling app, Cook presented seven questions to his audience that focused on university aspirations and internal barriers to those goals. Answers came back in real time on a room screen, and Cook also invited councilors to elaborate on an idea or answer.

"This is a great way to collect data and to start the conversation," he said.

Three questions

In preparation for Cook's arrival March 1, council members had worked within their standing committees to collect getting-to-know-you questions for him. Cook responded to three during the council meeting. Below is a summary of his comments:

What is a misconception people have about university presidents, and how do you plan to prove it wrong?

A: You don't know what the job is until you step into it. You have to be all in, and your spouse can play a lot of different roles to help, too.

There's not one way to do this. I'll do it my way. You have to be comfortable leading in a way that feels right to you. One of the harder things about being a president is you have access to lots of information. You want to be honest and transparent and build trust because that's the most important part of being a leader. You can't always tell everyone everything you're involved in. I want you to trust me that I'm going to be all in, working hard for you.

If you were showing off Iowa State to a first-time visitor -- and had just an hour -- where would you take them?

A: I think the best thing about Iowa State is the people, so if there's a way to get them in front of the people and to help them understand the culture here, that's critical.

But it's a beautiful campus, too. This building (Student Innovation Center) is amazing. The campanile is pretty cool, central campus is beautiful. We have this really amazing reinvestment in Lake LaVerne about to start; maybe we'd wait 'til it's done to show people the lake . . .

How do you plan to support and retain students, faculty and staff, particularly in a time of budget pressures, workload concerns and evolving expectations for higher education?

A: We're doing pretty good with student retention; we've made a deliberate effort to invest in students. We want them to stay here and be successful. Professional advising is a service that makes a huge impact, learning communities make a huge impact on student success, especially as a land grant, where it's about access. It's easy to retain 4.0 students, but we do more than that, and we need to be proud of it.

On the staff and faculty side, this is part of why I'm here today. I want to hear from you: What works well here, what doesn't? Investing in employees, for example in employee benefits, is one way to get them to stay. The research says it's the local relationships -- with your supervisor, with others in your unit -- that matter, so how can we make an impact there?

As far as salaries, we need to help our stakeholders understand our impact in the state and that investing in us matters. It won't happen overnight but that's a part of it, too.

Annual compensation and benefits draft

In other business, the council completed a first reading of its assessment of compensation and benefits for P&S staff in the 2025-26 academic year. The council's compensation and benefits committee completes the review each spring. Councilors have the draft for P&S staff who want to see it. Committee chair Michael Boyd will take edits until the council's May 21 meeting, when he'll present a revised report for final approval.

The draft report acknowledges:

• A structured and consistent approach to compensation practices (both performance-based and market-based salary adjustments). It suggests considering an "income-sensitive strategy" to employee health care premiums.
• Continuous enhancements to employee benefits, particularly in voluntary benefits and well-being programs.

The draft also includes suggestions for better data sharing with employees to improve transparency and understanding across the organization. Examples include university totals for discretionary salary increases, performance evaluation completion rates, salary range information in job postings, participation rates in the various employee benefits and formal links between performance outcomes and compensation decisions.

March election results

Governance committee chair Emily Anderson affirmed the results of the council's March election to fill 24 terms that expire this spring. These newly elected councilors will attend the May meeting and begin their three-year terms on July 1.

Academic affairs division (17)

• Kim Abels, conference planning and management
• Suzanne Ankerstjerne, earth, atmosphere and climate
• Jonnie Becker, Extension youth/4-H
• Erika Blair, chemistry
• Dariana Glasco-Boyd, career services, Ivy College of Business
• Rachael Hargrove, university library
• Angela Harms, chemistry
• Elizabeth Huffman, Extension youth/4-H (currently serving as an appointed member)
• Sarah Karner, veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine
• Neely Lehman, office of research ethics
• Jenna Levendusky, civil, construction and environmental engineering
• Erik Ortega Marquez, office of the registrar
• Kaitlin Romsey, administration, College of Engineering 
• Jesse Rothweiler-Foster, institutional research
• Jess Severe, industrial and manufacturing systems engineering
• Marina Smart, mathematics
• Kristin Terrill, professional development team, Graduate College

Operations and finance (1)

• Isaac Miller, Redwood team, finance service delivery

President's division (3)

• Amanda Hallman, IT services
• Ashlee Hovell, public safety
• Jaxon Mabon, IT services

Student affairs division (3)

• Taylor Heitzman, Thielen Student Health Center
• Kyle Holtman, learning communities
• Liz Housholder, office of assessment, research and divisional effectiveness, division of student affairs