2023 Iowa Hunger Summit Speakers
Barbara J. Wilson
President, University of Iowa
Dr. Barbara J. Wilson began her term as the 22nd president of the University of Iowa on July 15, 2021. Based on the university’s comprehensive excellence, creativity across the disciplines, and strong sense of community, her leadership priorities are focused on people. In her first two years, the university embarked on a new five-year strategic plan, launched transformative faculty recruitment and retention programs, initiated a new program to support first-generation undergraduate students, significantly expanded mental health and well-being programs and services for students and the entire university community, and developed a ten-year facilities master plan that will improve academic space at the core of campus and modernize the delivery of education and patient care. During her first two years at Iowa, President Wilson and her development team have raised nearly $700 million in gifts and commitments to support student, faculty, and health care initiatives.
President Wilson earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and her master’s degree and PhD in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She came to Iowa most recently having served as the executive vice president/vice president for academic affairs of the University of Illinois System. Prior to that, she served as head of the Department of Communication, vice provost for academic affairs, executive vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and interim chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. President Wilson was a member of the Illinois faculty at Urbana-Champaign for 21 years. She was also a professor of communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Louisville.
President Wilson’s research focuses on the social and psychological effects of the media, particularly on youth. She is coauthor or coeditor of four books and over 80 research articles, book chapters, and technical reports. In 2008, she was elected as Fellow of the International Communication Association.
President Wilson is a native of Appleton, Wisconsin. Her spouse, John Lammers, is a retired professor of communication. They have three grown daughters.