Spring 2008

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Kolmer’s Path to the Dean’s Office

By Karen Bolluyt

The path to Lee Kolmer’s university career began on a farm in one of four southern Illinois counties settled largely by German immigrants.

He was one of eight children, two of whom died as infants. He, one brother and four sisters grew up on a farm there his father grew corn and wheat and “could milk 10 Holsteins in an hour.” His father also was among the earliest to grow soybeans.

“We spoke low and high German. We had a 15-party telephone line and my mother and her sister spoke low German so no one could understand them,” Kolmer said.

Kolmer described his childhood home as patriarchal with a mother who was an activist in her church and community. All of his sisters had careers, one as an R.N., one as a beautician and two earned Ph.D.s in math and science. His brother became a civil engineer and geologist.

“My sisters did their best to teach me respect,” he said.

Kolmer attended the University of Illinois for one year after high school and didn’t do well. He enlisted in the Army.

Far away from home, he learned another lesson that changed his perspective on the world. He was stationed with the army in Italy in 1947. Displaced, impoverished, hungry Italians gathered outside the walls of the U.S. compound. They received leftovers, and sometimes whole meals, from the U.S. soldiers.

He said he began to see himself a little differently, realizing that he might have been a Hitler youth, sacrificed to the Nazi cause, had his family not emigrated to the United States. He said he realized that part of what he became was due to good fortune and that the Italians outside the compound fence were less fortunate.

“I saw that my grandparents’ emigration was a great gift to me. It made me a little less arrogant and a little more grateful. It did change the way I saw the world,” he said.

After his service, he farmed with his father for two years, until the two of them realized that the farm did not produce enough income for them both. “And my father was there first,” Kolmer said.

So it was back to school, at Southern Illinois University. This time he liked it. He also liked the look of a job in academics and asked how one got to be on a university faculty. In 1952, he and his new wife arrived in Ames. He earned an M.S. and Ph. D. in ag economics and took a job on the faculty at Southern Illinois University.

“I didn’t like teaching as much as I expected. There wasn’t enough interaction. We lectured, “ he said.

In 1956, after 18 months in Illinois, Iowa beckoned again, with the offer of a position as an extension economist. Later he became extension’s state leader for agricultural and economic development and then assistant dean of university extension. In that role, he worked with Gerald Pepper, who led the Iowa Institute of Cooperation for 25 years.

“We needed a program of continuing education for co-op managers and directors and Lee and Marvin Anderson [extension director] were great help,” Pepper said.

Soon after Kolmer left to become Oregon State’s extension director in 1971, Pepper encouraged him to apply for the dean’s position of Iowa State’s College of Agriculture.

Kolmer applied, but, he told friends, “deans don’t come out of extension backgrounds.”

It turned out that they did. In offering him the dean’s position job, ISU’s President Parks noted that Kolmer’s candidacy had been supported by three Iowa groups that didn’t always see eye to eye: The Farm Bureau, the Farmers Union and National Farmer Organization.