Steven Leath

Dr. Steven Leath is the 15th president of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Leath was born in Providence, Rhode Island, moving to St. Paul, Minnesota at the age of two. Leath later moved again to central Pennsylvania, where he took up a number of sports, including hunting and fishing.

He obtained his Bachelor's Degree from Penn State University in 1979, studying Plant Science. Two years later he received his M.S. in Plant Pathology from the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and Phytopathology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984.

Prior to his position at Iowa State, Leath was vice president for research for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system.

A notable event that occurred during Leath's tenure 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.

Dr. and Mrs. Leath have two sons, Eric and Scott. They share the Knoll with their beloved dogs, Quill and Dixie.

Leath's family owns a Christmas Tree farm, currently run by his sons.

An Instrument-rated pilot, Leath damaged a Cirrus SR-22 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.