The president of the Board of Regents spoke to members of the ISU Faculty Senate about future plans for the state’s budget at its meeting Tuesday.Regent Owen Newlin said health care increases and three new regent initiatives, including the continuation of a plant science initiative for Iowa State, are issues that may affect the university’s budget.”Full funding of salaries from state appropriations is our number one priority for this year,” he said. Newlin said the board is strongly behind the plant science initiative. “It represents all kinds of opportunities,” he said. “The opportunity to continue on its leadership role in agriculture and the opportunity to generate all kinds of new economic activity.” He also said the initiative will attract people and help keep graduates in Iowa. “[I have] confidence in you — faculty and staff at Iowa State — and your ability to make this world-class initiative work,” Newlin said.Newlin said he was also impressed with the ISU undergraduate education programs and endowments that benefit students in different colleges.Faculty Senate members also brought forth some issues they were concerned about to Newlin.Joanna Courteau, university professor of foreign languages and literatures, was concerned with the strategy the regents have developed for Iowa State. Obstacles Courteau said officials should look at were limited state funding, the non-duplication of programs policy and the underfunding of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.”I think that there is no possibility of having the best land grant university with a college as under-funded as the LAS college,” she said.But Newlin said underfunding is not a problem that can be fixed easily. “In terms of education in the United States, we are not the only state that has to deal with that issue,” he said.