Ann M. Gansemer-Topf is the Frances S. and Arthur L. Wallace Professor and Director of the School of Education at Iowa State University. Prior to her appointment as Director in 2024, she served as a program coordinator and as the Director of Graduate Education within the School of Education.

With more than 20 years of experience in academic and student affairs roles before joining the faculty, she is committed to engaging in scholarship aims to strengthen and elevate student affairs and higher education practice, research, and policy.

Her work examines the micro-level factors that influence individual student success as well as the macro-level institutional, state, and federal forces that shape higher education. Her research interests also include assessment and evaluation practices in higher education, higher education leadership, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

She has received multiple recognitions for excellence in teaching, contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning, and her mentorship of graduate students and faculty. She has also been honored as a NASPA Pillar of the Profession.

Gansemer-Topf earned her B.A. in Psychology from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Iowa State University.