President Gregory Geoffroy leveled with the student population on Wednesday during an address to members of the Government of the Student Body Senate.

During his talk, Geoffroy outlined key issues facing the university and its future, including retention of faculty and staff, affordable tuition, facility improvements and conservation.

“Here at the university, we are constantly working to increase the global impact of this university,” Geoffroy said.

“We must continue to do this through the education of students and future leaders while developing state-of-the-art research in areas that are critical to Iowa and to the world.

Geoffroy first touched on the topic of tuition and the retention of faculty and staff. He pointed out that the budget model approved by Gov. Chet Culver will make for competitive compensation rates for university educators while keeping tuition increases to a minimum.

Geoffroy then moved on to the future of Iowa State’s facilities.

He made it clear that the most imminent concern facing the university’s facilities is the proposed revamping of Iowa State’s recreational buildings.

He said the plan had been difficult to compile because of difficulty of raising funds for recreation projects.

But confidence in the project certainly isn’t lacking.

“I feel like we have established a very good plan.

These improvements will impact current generations as well as students in the future,” Geoffroy said.

Other improvements Geoffroy outlined briefly included the addition of design studios to alleviate design students’ usage of the Armory, breaking ground on the new chemistry building and the continued renovation of the Memorial Union.

While all projects are important to the continued success of academic programs, Geoffroy said, the work being done on the Memorial Union will be integral to the image portrayed by the university.

“I know renovations seem to be going on forever [at the Memorial Union], but they are very, very important to students and campus,” he said.

When he finished his local focus on Iowa State, Geoffroy moved on to a topic that cast more of a global shadow.

“Fossil fuels are steadily becoming more costly, and most of our energy these days – certainly oil – comes from parts of the world that aren’t necessarily stable,” Geoffroy said.

“The demands, globally, for oil are increasing rapidly . The future looks like a future in which energy is going to be a major driver for political action.”

Geoffroy went on to discuss how ISU students can make a worldwide impact by using Iowa State’s reputation as one of the nation’s top science and technology institutions.

“We need to find alternative energy sources, particularly renewable energy sources . but a very important part of our nation’s energy solution has to be the overall conservation of energy,” Geoffroy said.

At the end of Geoffroy’s visit, GSB senators got a chance to throw in their two cents and voice issues facing the student body.

Charles Wakefield, off-campus senator, brought up the topic of a student vote taking place between Feb. 25 and 27 regarding the future of the recreation facilities.

Wakefield asked whether there has been any thought as to what might take place if students vote down the recreation facilities improvements.

Geoffroy’s response to the query showed his optimism in the student vote.

“We haven’t really addressed this [failing vote], at least not seriously.

We’re optimistic; if not, we’ll regroup and figure out what we’re going to do,” Geoffroy said.