College Feature: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Iowa State Daily
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College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
By April Sphongsai, Reporter (September 30, 2026)
A welcome sign to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, taken on February 9, 2025, at Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), one of eight colleges at Iowa State University, boasts a global ranking of No. 7 for its agriculture and forestry programs according to the 2026 QS University rankings.
Search for a new dean
CALS is currently in the process of finding a new dean to replace interim dean Ruth MacDonald and succeed Dan Robinson, who held the position from 2019 to July 2026. MacDonald encourages all members of the CALS community to get involved in the search. While an official search committee oversees the process, students and faculty are welcome to attend listening sessions with candidates.
"Anyone is welcome to come and provide feedback," MacDonald said. "But certainly, when the candidates come to campus, there will be opportunities to listen to a seminar and provide feedback."
New majors launched
This fall semester, CALS introduced two new majors: Digital and Precision Agriculture and Animal Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Mary Wiedenhoeft, associate chair for academics and Director for the M.S. in Agronomy program, explains the appeal of Digital and Precision Agriculture:
"We are taking data science... soil information, and then we’re also adding the knowledge of just the hardware and the equipment," she says. "We have these tools... and then how do we use these tools? And then not just how we use them; we want to actually use them in the field, sort of agronomically making decisions."
MacDonald highlights CALS's Pathways program as a way for students to gain hands-on experience through various extracurricular activities.