VINTON — As part of an $8.4 million internal university cut, about 23 positions will be eliminated at Iowa State, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy told the Board of Regents Wednesday.

The eliminated positions include six and a half professional and scientific staff and 17 merit staff.

Mark Chidister, assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis, said he anticipated the positions will be eliminated by the end of this year.

“We are still working through the details of those right now in terms of notifying employees,” Chidister said.

Geoffroy said some of those laid off could find different positions in the university. “Some will get another job, others won’t,” he said.

Although he was unable to specify which areas of the university the employee cuts would be made, Chidister said all of the eliminated positions’ salaries are paid through the general fund budget, and not through self-supporting budgets such as that of the Department of Residence.

The internal cuts the eliminated positions are part of will be coupled with tuition revenues to make up for $14.4 million in cost increases the university is facing — $10 million of which are a result of faculty salary increases.

Despite not receiving state allocations for faculty salary increases, ISU officials tentatively proposed a 1.5 to 2 percent salary increase for faculty, staff and graduate assistants.

“If we’re going to compete effectively, we have to pay salaries that are competitive,” Geoffroy said.

Still, officials said, the proposed increase is not enough to pull Iowa State out of its spot on the bottom of faculty salary comparisons with peer universities.

“I will be brief and blunt — the situation with faculty salaries at Iowa State is bad, and we don’t see it getting a lot better,” said Faculty Senate President Jack Girton.

Girton said the increase may not be enough to help Iowa State retain faculty.

“That’s half of what the [unionized] UNI faculty bargained for, and they bargain on the open market,” Girton said.

He said it is especially difficult to recruit and retain faculty in business and science and technology — areas emphasized by Iowa State — because salaries are highly competitive in these fields. He said he knows of faculty leaving for salaries that are up to 40 percent higher than what they are being paid at Iowa State.

Geoffroy said at any time, Iowa State has about a dozen faculty considering jobs at other universities, and “salary is always an issue — always.”

Also at the regents meeting, Des Moines Regent John Forsyth’s nomination for board president was confirmed by a vote of 8-0. Last month, the board was split in support between Forsyth and Regent Robert Downer of Iowa City, but Downer declined his nomination Wednesday.

“I was very concerned after the last meeting where we as a board might be heading,” he said. “I don’t want to see any action that would impair our ability to work as a group.” Downer was selected by the board to serve as president pro tem.

The board also confirmed the budget and design plans for a $17 million renovation of the Memorial Union and voted to approve increases in residence hall rates and parking and several miscellaneous fees.