As part of his plan to “pursue excellence,” President Gregory Geoffroy outlined four of Iowa State’s goals during his first State of the University address of the year at fall convocation on Monday.

Geoffroy also addressed budget cuts and promised to add more faculty members in response to the loss of hundreds of positions in the past two years.

During his speech, he said Iowa State needs to enhance efforts to foster diversity and ensure a campus climate that supports success.

“We must promote excellence through diversity,” Geoffroy told a group of about 300 people – mostly faculty, staff, and alumni – in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. He said Iowa State needs to improve diversity in all areas – including gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

To complete the mission, he said he wants to elevate campus conversation about diversity, create more opportunities to celebrate the diversity the university already has, enhance recruitment efforts and ensure a strong personal commitment to the goal.

Improved diversity was announced as a new goal, building on the three that he stated last year during his installation address. Geoffroy’s other goals include increasing the number of academic programs, providing superior education to students and strongly connecting with the people of Iowa.

At the outset of the speech, he outlined the university’s budget situation and emphasized the importance of the proposed tuition hike.

Geoffroy said over the past two years, Iowa State has faced a 19 percent reduction in state funds, which has resulted in the loss of 415 faculty positions, while the university has faced record enrollment.

He said Iowa State has $13,675 per student to be spent for educational purposes, which is about $3,000 less than the average spent by peer universities.

Improving the situation “requires an increase in revenue base or a decrease in the number of students we serve, and I don’t think any of us want that,” Geoffroy said.

In 1991, there was one faculty member for every 16 students, but that number has increased to 19.5, he said, which has resulted in growth in the number of large classes and a decrease in small classes.

To deal with the problem, Geoffroy said the No. 1 priority for the money gained by the tuition increase will be to add faculty members.

He also announced a new academic initiative that will add a total of nine new faculty positions to six different fields of study in the university.

During the speech, Geoffroy also said the university would take a “truly broad and comprehensive examination of the university calendar.”

He said a committee, including faculty and students, will look at items such as extending or shortening semesters, adding a short semester during winter break and modifying the summer calendar.