Daniel J. Robison

As Dean of the college from 2019 to 2026 he served on the Boards of several significant agricultural and economic development organizations, covering sectors including crops, livestock, food, technology, and business development among others. These included America’s Cultivation Corridor, the ISU Research Park, and Iowa’s agricultural commodity organizations. He is also currently the President of the C.V. Riley Memorial Foundation, an independent public foundation supporting the advancement of agriculture science and policy at the national level, in close association with AAAS, the World Food Prize Foundation, and the Council for Agriculture Science and Technology (CAST), and also serves on CAST’s Strategic Advisory Council. While Dean the college significantly expanded and upgraded its on-campus and field facilities, including more than $50 million in investments, and added a variety of new student-centric, research and partnership-building programs.

The college, one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., consistently ranks in the top five nationally and top 10 globally, has 14 academic departments, and pursues all aspects of a Land Grant University in teaching research, extension and service. It has more than 700 faculty and staff, 4,300 undergraduate and graduate students, and annual fiscal activity of ca. $200 million. The outlook of the college reflects the globally leading agricultural economy of Iowa, and its community and natural resource bases. Activities include international engagement, public-private partnerships, service learning, and a commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. The college research enterprise includes more than 20 centers, covering topics ranging from conservation to egg production, water quality and soil fertility management, and more. As Dean, Robison served on the governing committees of many of these, as well as the college affiliates: Agriculture Endowment, Community for Ag Development (land brokerage and seed multiplication), and the Iowa Crop Improvement Association. College farms cover diverse agricultural systems and landscapes across the state on more than 17,000 acres. There are satellite campuses in Uganda, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Montana. Its faculty ranks include internationally recognized scientists, educators, inventors and thought leaders.

Robison came to Iowa State from West Virginia University, where he served 2012-2019 as the dean of the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. During his tenure the Davis College achieved record student enrollment and retention while adding several new teaching and research facilities, and programmatic initiatives. Prior to that position, Robison served on the faculty at North Carolina State University for 16 years, where he directed the Hardwood Research Cooperative working with forest products industries and agencies across 13 southern states. He completed his tenure at NC State with eight years as Associate Dean in the College of Natural Resources, with responsibilities that included research, extension, service, international and strategic programming. His earlier work included serving as research faculty, visiting assistant professor and Biomass (Bioenergy) Program Director at SUNY-Syracuse, R&D activities in West Africa, working with USDA NRCS, UN FAO, and a variety of other experiences, including lumber mill and dairy farm labor, and ROTC Cadet.

Before beginning to serve as dean at WVU and ISU, his primary teaching responsibilities were courses in forestry and natural resources, and forest science, he completed 24 graduate students and with colleagues secured more than $24 million in research funding in areas such forest entomology and pest management, silviculture of natural hardwoods, biomass-bioenergy plantation systems, agroforestry and clonal forestry. His international experience includes spending two years in West Africa as a consultant and volunteer for the West Africa Rice Development Association (now CGIAR’s AfricaRice), African Development Bank – Social and Environmental Policy Division, U.S. Peace Corps, and U.S. Agency for International Development. He has done field work in many U.S. states, and in countries that include Greece, Uganda, Canada, Myanmar, Israel and South Africa. He earned a doctorate in entomology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993, and a master’s degree in silviculture and forest influences in 1986 and a bachelor’s degree in forestry in 1982, both from the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry-Syracuse. Robison was a Fellow of the American Council on Education 2007-2008, serving at University of Alaska-Fairbanks, East Carolina University, and with colleagues at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He completed North Carolina’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute, and a number of other professional development programs. Robison is a native of New Jersey. He and his wife Julie, a native of Wisconsin, have two daughters.