A former Iowa State University assistant professor is suing the university for allegedly denying her a promotion based on her gender.

Laura Smarandescu, a former assistant professor of marketing in the ISU College of Business, said in the lawsuit filed March 24 in Story County District Court that she faced unlawful discrimination, unlawful employment discrimination, breach of contract, a violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th and 15th amendments.

She claims in the lawsuit that the university and several faculty members “engaged in wrongful, unlawful, and discriminatory conduct directed at her because she is female.” Smarandescu also said that she was “subject to adverse employment action on the basis of her sex,” and that those named in the suit committed wrongful acts that damaged her reputation so severely that “employment opportunities were and continue to be impaired.”

ISU spokesman John McCarroll said the university is aware of the lawsuit, but declined comment, saying the university does not generally comment on pending litigation. The university will confer with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which will represent the university in the case, McCarroll said.

The lawsuit names the university, ISU President Steven Leath, Provost Jonathan Wickert, Marketing Department Promotion and Tenure Committee members Sridhar Ramaswami, Stephen Kim, John Wong, Sekar Raju, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Marketing Department Chair Russ Laczniak, and College of Business Dean David Spalding.

According to court documents, Smarandescu came to ISU in 2007, and in 2010 her probationary period was extended by three years after the Marketing Department chair, College committee and College dean concluded she was making good progress toward tenure in terms of research and teaching.

The lawsuit claims Smarandescu was evaluated annually by the marketing department chair, and her performance met the expectations every year for research, teaching and service. In August 2014, she applied for the position of associate professor with tenure.

Documents show her application was first reviewed by the Marketing Department Promotion and Tenure Committee, and denied. Following the committee, her application was reviewed by Laczniak, then Ramaswami and Spalding, who recommended her application be denied again.

Following their recommendation, documents show Wickert reviewed Smarandescu’s application for promotion and recommended to Leath that it be denied. Leath denied her application for promotion via written notice in March 2015, according to the lawsuit.

Smarandescu claims that her application was denied even though her qualifications, research and teaching record were as good or better than male assistant professors previously awarded promotion to associate professor in the College of Business, so she appealed the tenure decision through ISU’s available grievance mechanisms.

According to the lawsuit, she filed an appeal against Leath’s decision with the Faculty Senate Appeals Committee, which appointed an investigative committee to examine the case. However, Smarandescu claims in her lawsuit that Leath and Wickert, “improperly interfered with the appeal process and directed the investigative committee of the Faculty Senate Appeals Committee to limit its review to procedural issues and to not address the merits of her application for promotion.”

In the fall of 2015, documents show the full Faculty Senate Appeals Committee agreed with Smarandescu and the investigative committee report and voted 22-2 that the tenure process was flawed, and recommended that her tenure process be redone, and she be offered an extension of her employment contract.

She claims that the final action in denying her application was taken by Leath, on Nov. 3, 2015, when he denied the recommendation of the Faculty Senate Appeals Committee to redo the tenure process and extend her contract.

The lawsuit indicates that under ISU rules, as a result of the denial of her application for promotion, Smarandescu was forced to leave her employment at ISU within six months.

Smarandescu is seeking compensation for the damages she claims she suffered as a result of the university’s actions. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, according to the university’s website.