Amid a year speckled with budget crises, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said he turned to faculty, staff and students for input regarding university issues.

Slightly longer than a year since his arrival at Iowa State, Geoffroy said one of his top priorities is maintaining the quality of education at the university.

“Compared to our peer colleges, we’re at the bottom of the list for dollars available to spend on each student,” he said. Iowa State’s peer colleges spend $16,500 on each student, while Iowa State spends only $13,500.

When working on universitywide issues, Geoffroy said he takes into consideration feedback from the ISU community. In making a decision regarding the fate of Morrill Hall, for example, Geoffroy said he received and read more than 600 e-mails.

“He involves people up and down the line and allows for widespread participation in decision-making,” said Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs. Hill referred to Geoffroy as a “man of action” who listens not only to students, but to faculty and staff as well.

The president has taken the challenge of adapting to Iowa State head-on, said Dan Fulton, who worked with Geoffroy as a student adviser for the Presidential Leadership Class.

“It was great to see President Geoffroy interacting with students and getting their input on different issues over the past year,” he said. “He makes sure students know he’s working for them by going to student activities and meeting as many students as possible.”

Regarding budget cuts, Geoffroy said the national trend of higher education cuts has run deeper in Iowa. Iowa’s budget was reduced by 3.5 percent, but the state’s Regent institutions had a 6.6 percent cut, he said.

“The responsibility for payment of education has shifted from the taxpayers to direct recipients of higher education,” he said.

The student-to-faculty ratio at Iowa State has increased 20 to 25 percent in the last three years. This loss of faculty is a major concern, Geoffroy said.

“We want to maintain the quality of this institution,” he said. “It’s not an easy tradeoff, but tuition must be increased to avoid sacrificing quality.”

Though some faculty have been lost, other jobs still need to be filled. One opening is for the provost post, created when Rollin Richmond, formerly the ISU provost, left Iowa State for Humboldt University in California.

The search committee fielded more than 100 nominations and is currently narrowing down the applications it received.

Geoffroy anticipates a new year of progress at Iowa State, including classroom renovations in LeBaron and Physics Hall, construction of the new Union Drive Community Center, a new practice center for athletes and an expansion to Reiman Gardens.

Despite fiscal challenges, Geoffroy approved five academic initiatives. Chosen by a committee of faculty members, the initiatives are intended to strengthen Iowa State in the areas of food safety and food security, combinatorial discovery, human computer interaction, bioeconomy, and information infrastructure.

A proposed sixth initiative, the Center of Integrated Animal Genomics, awaits approval by the Board of Regents in September.