After a near six-month search process, the state Board of Regents announced Monday Wendy Wintersteen will serve as Iowa State University’s first female president starting Nov. 20.

The regents and the ISU Presidential Search and Screen Committee met Monday at the Iowa State Alumni Center to review the candidates in closed session before appointing Wintersteen to the position.

“The hiring of a university president, I would argue, is the single most important thing the board does,” Regent President Mike Richards said Monday.

Wintersteen is currently the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at ISU and has held the position since 2006.

Wintersteen is the 16th president of ISU and under her five-year contract will receive a starting salary of $525,000, which will increase to $590,000 by the third year of her term. Wintersteen will also receive a three-year deferred compensation package.

“I am so honored and humbled to be named the next president of Iowa State University,” Wintersteen said. “I look forward to working with all of you as we create an open, inclusive, and welcoming environment where every student who works hard can achieve their full potential.”

The search process began in May after the departure of former ISU President Steven Leath, who was announced as Auburn University’s 19th president in March after being at the helm of ISU since January 2012. Interim President Benjamin Allen has been in the position until a new president could be selected.

AGB Search was hired as the search firm in May. The search committee also formed that month and was comprised of regents and members of the ISU community. From there, the committee held open forums and listening sessions with the ISU community. Finalists visited campus earlier in the month for visits where they met with ISU faculty as well as the ISU Foundation and alumni association.

The three other finalists for the position included Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at the University of Georgia, Athens; Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Washington, D.C.; and Dale Whittaker, executive vice president and provost at University of Central Florida, who withdrew from the running on Oct. 19

This is the third time the regent universities — ISU, the University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Iowa — have selected a new president in two years. UI President Bruce Harreld was appointed in 2015, making him the longest-serving of the three institutional heads. The most recent presidential search resulted in Mark Nook being named the president of UNI in December 2016.

— Emily Wangen