DES MOINES, Iowa– A more than four-year court battle has ended with Iowa State University ordered to pay a former employee nearly $3 million after a jury determined the first woman to work as a professor in the school’s agronomy department was underpaid compared to her male colleagues.
Professor Dr. Silvia Cianzio started working for Iowa State in 1979 as the first female professor in the Department of Agronomy, according to court records. During her 41-year tenure, her attorney says Dr. Cianzio’s work contributed directly to cutting-edge advancements in the field of soybeans.
“She really made a difference, a huge difference, in the ability of Iowa soybean farmers to be able to make a living from planting soybeans based on her discovery,” said attorney Ann Brown, of Ann Brown Legal, who represented Dr. Cianzio in the case.
In 2020, Dr. Cianzio became chair of the department’s Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity, where she was tasked with reviewing salary information. According to Brown, that review led to a shocking discovery.
“She was grossly underpaid in comparison to male professors who were performing equal work,” said Brown…