An expected decline in the number of high school graduates – often referred to as the “enrollment cliff” – is adding urgency to efforts at institutions like Iowa State University to attract students and keep them working in Iowa after they earn a degree, the university’s new president said.

Helping retain graduates is one of the key ways the university can contribute to shaping and expanding Iowa’s workforce, said Cook, 56, who was named ISU’s 17th president last November. 

“What’s critical is for us to make sure that we’re highly competitive for those students,” said Cook this week during an interview with the Business Record. “Part of that is making sure that the academic programs that we have are aligned with the workforce needs of our state. We need to make sure that the programs we have are educating students to be successful in those careers.”

Cook, who attended Ames High School and obtained his undergraduate degree from Iowa State, began his new role as ISU’s president on March 1. He replaces Wendy Wintersteen, who retired in January after serving as the university’s president for nine years.

Cook previously was president of North Dakota State University, a land-grant institution in Fargo with 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and a $971.5 million biennial budget.

Among the accomplishments at North Dakota State that Cook lists in his curriculum vitae is the launch of NDSU Transform, a data-driven strategic plan that reversed 10 years of declining enrollment and revenues at the university. Through the strategic plan, the number of academic colleges were reduced to five from seven; 80 positions were eliminated; and 29 academic programs were eliminated or merged. Savings were reinvested into 17 new academic programs, according to Cook’s vitae.

NDSU Transform also improved student success at the university, including increasing retention of first-year students by 3% and graduation rates by 12%.

Also, during his nearly four-year-tenure at North Dakota State, Cook launched “Bison to the Bakken,” an experiential learning program that immerses students in that state’s energy sector. The three-credit course allows students to learn about oil and gas production, fracking, pipelines, carbon capture, wind energy and energy distribution. The program allows students to explore career paths in numerous areas of the energy sector, Cook said.

“If there are ways to get our [ISU] students out into the state like that, we’ll do it,” Cook said.

Continuing to attract potential college students is not an issue faced only by Iowa State. Nationwide, the pipeline of potential college students is expected to shrink as the number of people under age 18 declines. According to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 3.4 million students will graduate from high school in 2041 compared with 3.9 million this past spring. Iowa is expected to see a 4% decline in the number of high school graduates, from 39,747 in 2025 to 36,299 in 2041.

Adding even more urgency to the need to keep young professionals in Iowa and attract new ones is the state’s aging workforce. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2030, 41% of the state’s workforce will be 54 or older. As older workers retire, new workers to the state will be needed to replace them.

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 54% of Iowa State University graduates were employed in Iowa one year after receiving a degree. Cook said he’d like to see that percentage increase. One way to do that is to duplicate successful ISU programs.

For example, partnerships between Iowa State and Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, UnityPoint Health and Trinity Health, both in Des Moines, and Boone County Hospital all offer paid health care management internships to ISU students. The program, launched in 2023, provides students opportunities for experiential learning in areas such as hospital marketing, business operations and human resources.

“Many of those students decide to stay in the state,” Cook said. “Those are the kind of things universities can do.”

The ISU Research Park, located on about 550 acres south of campus, is home to 145 companies and more than 2,500 employees. The park employs over 500 students, many as interns, Cook said.

“We want our students to get those kinds of amazing opportunities and the [companies] want our students to help grow their workforces,” Cook said.

Strengthening partnerships with Iowa’s community colleges is another way to help grow ISU’s enrollment and Iowa’s workforce, Cook said.

“We have an amazing community college network in our state,” Cook said. Increasing the number of students who transfer from a two-year community college to ISU to obtain four-year degrees will also help grow enrollment, he said.

Institutions like ISU traditionally offer four-year and other advanced degrees, Cook said.

“That’s important. But, what also makes sense? Should we be doing more certificates in short courses or more [non-degree] professional training when people need it?

“There’s a lot of different opportunities that we need to be open to, which I know we are.”