Judge Orders Iowa State to Pay Former Professor $2.8M

An Iowa district court jury on Wednesday determined that Iowa State University “willfully” underpaid former professor Silvia Cianzio by nearly $725,000 since 2009, when the state’s equal pay act took effect, WHO13 reported. As a result, a judge on Thursday ordered the university to pay Cianzio almost $2.8 million.

While chair of the agronomy department’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee in 2020, Cianzio discovered that she had been underpaid compared to her male colleagues for years. She retired shortly after and tried to resolve the matter internally before suing the university in 2022, according to WHO13. 

“She does feel vindicated,” Cianzio’s attorney, Ann Brown, told WHO13. The case “should be a motivator for employers to get women—and in Iowa it’s any protected class—up to being paid equally and fairly with their male counterparts to avoid that exposure to liability.”

In a statement to WHO13, the university said it disagreed with the jury’s decision and plans to appeal. 

“Consistent with the evidence presented during the trial, Iowa State maintains that its pay practices comply with the law and do not discriminate on gender or any protected status,” the statement read.