North Dakota State President David Cook, Ames native, finalist for ISU presidency

AMES — The second of two finalists to succeed Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen has been identified as David Cook, an Ames native and Iowa State alum who’s been serving as the 15th president of North Dakota State University since 2022.

Before leading North Dakota State — a land-grant university like Iowa State — Cook, 55, advanced his way through the University of Kansas ranks, meaning his entire academic career has been at public universities like those governed by Iowa’s Board of Regents.

Cook’s name was made public Wednesday in advance of his visit to campus Thursday, when he’ll participate in a public forum at 4 p.m. in Iowa State’s Memorial Union.

  Buy Photo

The first candidate was announced Tuesday morning as Benjamin Houlton — dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, where he also holds rank as an ecology and evolutionary biology professor.

Houlton, 50, will speak at 4 p.m. today in the Iowa State Memorial Union for a public forum — which also will be livestreamed on the Board of Regents website.

Cook and Houlton are the only candidates left from an original pool of 78 applicants, which a 12-member search committee narrowed down to eight semifinalists and then four finalists last month.

Of those four, only three accepted the invitation to continue on to the public portion of the process. And then another dropped out Friday — leaving just two vying for the job to lead Iowa’s public land-grant university, established nearly 168 years ago in 1858 as the “Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm.”

Outgoing President Wintersteen — who in November 2017 became Iowa State’s 16th president and first female president — in May announced plans to retire in January.

Cook, who was born and raised in Ames, started his higher education journey nearby at Iowa State, where he earned a bachelor’s in political science and speech communication in 1992.

He went on to earn both a master’s and doctorate in organizational communication from the University of Kansas in 1995 and in 1998, respectively — penning a dissertation on “Communication strategies and Chinese organizational commitment in American firms in China,” for which he lived in Shanghai for a period.

In his curriculum vitae, Cook personalized his “leadership philosophy” to the Iowa State position — calling himself a “dedicated servant-leader and proud Iowa State alumnus with over 25 years of leadership experience at research-intensive universities.”

“Experienced in strategic planning, student success, research expansion, fundraising, government relations, extension, financial stewardship, shared governance and athletics,” Cook continued in his leadership philosophy. “Committed to advancing Iowa State’s mission as a student-centric, innovative, global land-grant leader.”

Land-grant connection

Following his doctorate, Cook spent 15 years with the University of Kansas Medical Center, starting as an assistant director of the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth and advancing to roles like assistant vice chancellor of external affairs; executive director of the Midwest Cancer Alliance; associate director of the Institute for Community & Public Health; and associate vice chancellor of the Institute for Community Engagement.

He shifted to the main KU campus in 2013 as vice chancellor and founding dean of the KU Edwards Campus and School of Professional Studies. And in 2020, Cook was appointed KU vice chancellor for public affairs and economic development — directing the university’s state and federal government relations, public affairs, and economic development efforts.

In that role, he supported the KU Innovation Park — housing more than 60 corporate tenants, startup companies, and KU spinouts providing 450-plus jobs.

Iowa State, similarly, has a sprawling research park — although it covers 550-plus acres and more than 1 million square feet of workspace in 16 buildings, serving 125-plus tenant companies employing 2,500 employees.

Two years into his role as vice chancellor, North Dakota State hired him as its president to lead the research I land-grant university that today boasts a total enrollment of nearly 12,000 — including both undergraduate and graduate students.

That’s just over a third the size of Iowa State, which this fall reported a total enrollment of 31,105. But both campuses share a land-grant mission — meaning they were designated by their respective state legislatures to receive benefits to “teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts as well as classical studies.”

North Dakota State

A recent profile of Cook published by the NDSU Foundation reported the campus as facing a “significant budget challenge that required quick and thoughtful action” when he started in 2022.

“With a downward trend in enrollment, NDSU had been losing operational revenue from both tuition and state funding,” according to the Foundation profile.

Cook in response launched an “NDSU Transform” initiative that merged the campus’ seven academic colleges into five, phased out 24 academic programs, and reduced personnel.

Although total NDSU enrollment hasn’t increased since the campaign’s launch, it has stabilized after years of decline since the campus’ peak of 14,747 in 2014 — when Iowa State also saw its enrollment on the rise and nearing 35,000.

This fall, NDSU reported a fall enrollment of 11,952 — exactly the same as in 2024 and 2023, according to the campus website.

“Under his leadership, NDSU has stabilized enrollment after years of decline, increased retention rates, and celebrated a 12 percent increase in graduates this past spring,” the website reports. “The university continues to break records in research expenditures, reinforcing its position among the nation’s top 100 public research institutions.”

And Cook also has bolstered the university’s fundraising and legislative partnerships.

“Grateful to Governor Armstrong for joining our Foundation trustees on campus today,” Cook wrote on X in September about Republican North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong. “His leadership and vision for North Dakota’s future provide valuable direction for NDSU as we continue our mission as a student-focused, land-grant, research university.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com