President Gregory Geoffroy has appointed a task force to work with the Board of Regents to conduct a year-and-a-half long organizational review of the university.

All five regent universities – Iowa State, the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, the Iowa School for the Deaf and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School – will be reviewed by the Board of Regents.

The regents hired MGT America of Tallahassee, Fla., a national management research and consulting firm, to help in the first phase of the study. The goal of the first phase is to identify areas that need further study, Geoffroy said.

“Each institution will decide how it wishes to work with the consulting firm the Board of Regents hired,” he said. “I chose to do it this way, because I thought it would work best for the university.”

The 21-member task force was chosen after recommendations from the Faculty Senate, Geoffroy and task force chairman Provost Rollin Richmond.

“Provost Richmond consulted with the Faculty Senate and the nominees,” Geoffroy said. “We went back and forth, but we wanted to make sure lots of faculty, staff and students were there to give a broad perspective. Basically, we’re trying to get as many people represented as possible.”

The task force met Monday to examine ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency in the university, university officials said.

The task force also will investigate ways to deal with further budget challenges.

“I hope that the task force will identify areas that need improvement,” said Faculty Senate President Christine Pope. “Especially areas that need economic changes.”

The consulting firm will be on campus Sept. 10 and 11 to meet with university officials and the task force to hear the findings and recommendations, she said.

“The people on the task force come from all different areas of campus, so I think they represent the constituents well,” said Pope, associate professor of history.

Government of the Student Body President Andy Tofilon represents undergraduate students on the task force. He said he is looking forward to informing students about what they need to do and finding out what they want done to help deal with tightening budgets and increased tuition and fees.

“I will be talking to residence-hall leaders and greek leaders,” Tofilon said. “I will also have the GSB senators get their students’ perspectives about what needs to be done and what GSB can do for them. I hope that the students will understand what the university is facing and the important part students play in the review.”