NEWS

Obama's ag secretary, USAID adviser join CSU

Pat Ferrier
patferrier@coloradoan.com

Tom Vilsack, President Barack Obama's former Secretary of Agriculture, and his wife, Christie, are joining Colorado State University as advisers.

Vilsack, the longest tenured cabinet secretary in the Obama administration, will be joining Denver Water and CSU as a strategic adviser of food and water initiatives at the National Western Center and as global chair for

Tom Vilsack, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Barack Obama.

the international Board of Counselors on Food and Water Initiatives.

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Christie Vilsack, a longtime education and literacy champion and former senior adviser for international education at the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, will be senior adviser to the chancellor for educational access and presidential visiting scholar of educational access.

Both roles are part time. Tom Vilsack will be paid $75,000 annually for three years; Christie Vilsack will be paid $50,000 annually.

"I will not be here every day but when I am here (CSU) will have my full attention," Vilsack said.

He is believed to be the only former cabinet secretary to ever work for CSU. As the former mayor and governor of Iowa and cabinet secretary, he brings an extensive Rolodex and broad experience with agriculture and water issues important to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West.

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Vilsack said in looking at life after the Obama administration, he wanted to work with young people and farmers in rural America to help bridge the urban rural divide and foster another generation interested in where their food comes from.

Christie Vilsack

CSU is a key partner in redeveloping the National Western Stock Show campus into a $1.1 billion, 250-acre year-round tourism, educational and agricultural center near Interstates 70 and 25. "We have the buildings, now we need to figure out what goes on in those buildings and what we do with the opportunity."

With the partnership that includes Denver Water and the city of Denver, Vilsack said "we need to make sure we do something meaningful."

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Christie Vilsack said her role at CSU was less defined than her husband's. As a lifelong educator, she said she wants to continue working with underserved communities and populations "in terms of planting seeds for college education in middle school" rather than waiting until high school when it may be too late.

She is no stranger to Colorado. Her parents met in Boulder when her father was attending summer law classes and her mother was tutoring his best friend.

They married after Pearl Harbor and often took their three children on road trips to Colorado, including Estes Park and driving the Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray before it was paved. Tom and Christie Vilsack's son, daughter-in-law and grandson live in Denver.