As the budget shrinks and more programs are cut, Jack Girton, chairman of the Faculty Senate University Resource Policies and Allocations Council, said it is getting harder to reallocate resources because only quality programs are left.

The allocations council will work with the provost on where to reallocate resources — many of which, Girton said, are the university’s faculty and staff members.

“Shifting people is how we change the direction of the university,” Girton said. “We need to focus resources on our highest priorities.”

Decisions made by the allocations council will impact how Iowa State handles proposed strategies to deal with the university’s budget.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said Iowa State is working with the Iowa Legislature on a partnership that would give $40 million to the regent universities during the next four years if the universities can reallocate some resources.

Girton said the Board of Regents is asking Iowa State to consider the future of the university. He said Iowa State will look at declining and growing numbers in different programs. Recently, he said, plant pathology was canceled because of low numbers.

Sidner Larson, at-large representative in the Faculty Senate and associate professor of English, said Iowa needs to prioritize investing in its universities.

He said budget cuts during the last few years have dismantled Iowa State instead of building it up.

“We’ve lost too much faculty,” Larson said. “It’s time to say we are suffering from a lack of leadership involving financing. We don’t understand how our money is being managed.”

He said Iowa may force the universities to sell out quality programs and follow a corporate model.

Larson said the university needs to look into the changing future of Iowa’s economy.

The university could work harder to partner with industry and local businesses, Larson said, and having a wide variety of disciplines would attract financial and intellectual capital to the state.

Madden said Iowa State can be more effective in gaining new external funding. He said sponsored funding for research, fund raising and personal donations are up this year from the past.

Lisa Lorenzen, industrial liaison for provost and research administration, said funding last year totaled $230.4 million; $14.9 million of that came from industry.

She said the major industry funding supports technology-based research and life sciences as well as manufacturing.

Lorenzen said about 300 industries fund Iowa State, including major Iowa companies like John Deere & Company and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. She also said energy companies like Alliant Energy Corp. and MidAmerican Energy Co. fund Iowa State with a direct interest in economic development in Iowa.

Girton said faculty members are expected to search for external funding for their research. However, he said, the administration could do more, such as hiring help, ordering supplies and getting paperwork done.

Larson said the entire faculty must speak up about what is going on with the university’s budgets. He said the administration should challenge and ask for more from the state rather than taking what is given to it.

“We can’t please everyone,” Larson said. “The land-grant vision requires a strong leader, and we don’t have someone to back it up.”

The council will discuss tentative plans with the provost on future reallocations.

Girton said the provost has given the deans certain targets for consideration of reallocation. He said that, by next April, different decisions will be presented publicly before the entire Faculty Senate.