Governor Chet Culver began his career as an environmental and consumer advocate in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. After receiving his MA in teaching from Drake University in 1994, he taught government and history at Roosevelt High School and Hoover High School in Des Moines, where he also coached both football and basketball. In 1998, Governor Culver was elected as Iowa’s 29th Secretary of State and the youngest Secretary of State in the nation, and was re-elected to the position in 2002. As Secretary of State, he created the Iowa Student Political Awareness Club, a nonpartisan statewide student organization dedicated to increasing civic and community participation among Iowa’s young people.

Gregory L. Geoffroy became Iowa State University’s 14th president on July 1, 2001. He also holds the rank of professor of chemistry. Dr. Geoffroy spent 23 years as a faculty member and administrator at Pennsylvania State University, including serving as dean of the Eberly College of Science. In 1997, he was appointed senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also served as interim president for two months in 1998. Geoffroy is on the Divison I Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, as a representative of the Big 12 Conference. He also serves on the FBI’s National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, a board that fosters communication and understanding between higher education and the FBI and improvements in national security. Geoffroy received a BS with honors from the University of Louisville and a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

John C. Allen is director of the Western Rural Development Center and professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology at Utah State University. Allen’s current professional activities focus on rural community development, entrepreneurial communities, and natural resource management throughout the West. His research interests cover three primary areas: the impact of information-age technology on economic development; how communities respond to change; and the impact of sustainable agriculture on rural communities and the role natural resources play in rural development. Allen received a BS in sociology from Southern Oregon State University, an MS in urban sociology from Portland State University, and a PhD in sociology from Washington State University, Pullman.

Paul F. Anderson is a professor of landscape architecture and agronomy at Iowa State University, where he is also a faculty member in three interdisciplinary graduate programs: sustainable agriculture, environmental science, and geographic information systems (GIS). Anderson teaches courses in regional landscape design and landscape resource planning and management. He conducts research and outreach studies in modeling of landscape changes, agricultural land use and landscape suitability. A recent project involved using GIS methodology to identify potential corn stover collection site locations in Iowa. Anderson received a BSLA and MLA from Iowa State.

Bruce Babcock is a professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University. Babcock’s research interests include the evolution of agriculture away from a primary focus on commodity production. He recently created a research division focused on biorenewables policy at CARD to explore the multiple effects of the emerging biofuels industry on Midwestern agriculture. Babcock received a BS in economics of resource use and an MS in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis, and a PhD in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark Engelbrecht is dean of the College of Design at Iowa State University. Since receiving his BArch from Iowa State and MArch from Columbia University, Engelbrecht has been teaching and practicing for nearly four decades. In 1977, the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) presented him with its first award for accomplishments in education, and the national AIA elected him to its prestigious College of Fellows in 1998. Engelbrecht is a native Iowan whose family has been involved in public and private education within the state for three generations.

Robert Gramling

Robert Gramling is an environmental sociologist, a professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Socioeconomic Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is the author of two books and numerous journal articles. Gramling’s research, which has focused on rural communities and natural resource development, has been funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. He has served on National Research Council committees and scientific committees for state and federal agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Power Planning Commission, and the states of Alaska and Louisiana. Gramling received a BS in social welfare, an MS in social science and a PhD in sociology, all from Florida State University.

Thomas G. Johnson is director of the Community Policy Analysis Center and has a joint appointment as the Frank Miller Professor of Agricultural Economics and a professor in the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Johnson’s areas of expertise include rural economic development, fiscal and economic impact analysis, local government finance, and transportation economics. His research includes interdisciplinary projects on such issues as bioenergy, land use and transportation. He is a founding member of the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies Consortium, which includes eight universities in Europe and North America. Johnson is a fellow of the Southern Regional Science Association. He received a BS and MS from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD in agricultural economics from Oregon State University

Jack Payne

Jack Payne is vice president for extension and outreach at Iowa State University. He is director of Cooperative Extension, with programs in agriculture and natural resources, communities and economic development, families, and 4-H youth development. He also administers University Extension, which includes business and industry programs as well as continuing and distance education and conference services. Payne previously was vice president for University Extension at Utah State University. Prior to joining Utah State in 2001, he served as the first CEO and president of the American National Fish and Wildlife Museum, Springfield, MO, and spent 10 years with Ducks Unlimited Inc., serving as national director and Western states director of the private lands program, acting executive director of Ducks Unlimited de Mexico, and national director of conservation. Payne received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Temple University, a master’s degree in fisheries science and a PhD in wildlife science, both from Utah State University.