Steven Leath


Steven Leath is the former president of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.

Early life and education

Leath was born in Providence, Rhode Island, moving to St. Paul, Minnesota at the age of two. Leath later moved again to central Pennsylvania, where he took up a number of sports, including hunting and fishing.
He obtained his Bachelor's Degree from Penn State University in 1979, studying Plant Science. Two years later he received his M.S. in Plant Pathology from the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and Phytopathology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984.

Career

Prior to his position at Iowa State, Leath was vice president for research for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system.
A notable event that occurred during Leath's tenure at Iowa State was his decision to permanently end Veishea after 2014. This was due to continued problems with violence that occurred during the festival, especially a series of violent disturbances that led to his suspending Veishea halfway through the festival in 2014.
in May 2017
On March 20, 2017, Leath announced his resignation from Iowa State after being named the new president at Auburn University, amidst scandal involving improper personal use of an ISU airplane.
On June 21, 2019, It was announced he was resigning from Auburn University. Leath's predecessor as president, Jay Gogue, returned to the role on an interim basis.

Personal life

Leath and his wife have two sons, Eric and Scott.
An Instrument-rated pilot, Leath damaged a Cirrus SR-22 owned by Iowa State while landing in gusty conditions in Bloomington, IL.The ensuing controversy about the use of school property for personal travel, and the fact that the school paid for the damage, led to Leath publicly declaring that he would no longer fly state-owned aircraft.