Iowa State University
Office of the President
July 1, 2011
Dear Colleagues:
The Iowa General Assembly has determined our state appropriations for
next year, and we can now complete our FY2012 budget, pending final
approval by Governor Branstad. I want to thank everyone for your
patience and understanding during this year's unusually long state
budget deliberations.
Our budget planning for the last several months has been built around
an anticipated 7.3% reduction in our total state appropriations, which
included a 6% base reduction and the loss of $3.2 million in one-time
funds. We now know that the total reduction will be 5.1%, which
includes a 3.63% reduction in the educational budget, loss of one-time
funds and 6% cuts in all other appropriations, so our plans will be
modified accordingly. While our appropriations are better than
anticipated, managing this reduction will still be difficult, as it
reduces our state appropriations to approximately the same level as
FY1994.
We are pleased that the legislature approved the allocation of $1
million for the coming year to begin planning for construction of
new facilities for Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering,
with the remaining $59.4 million to flow over the following three
years. These funds, from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund, will
join more than $14 million from alumni and friends to construct a
state-of-the-art facility for one of our most outstanding programs.
At its June meeting, the Board of Regents approved a salary policy for
Iowa State's faculty and Professional and Scientific staff that
establishes 0.5% as the minimum salary increase for faculty and staff
who have been judged to have achieved satisfactory
performance. Decisions about individual salary increases will be made
by department chairs and supervisors following annual performance
evaluations, and these will be communicated shortly. They will reflect
planning and resources available within individual budget units,
making it possible for some units to award increases higher than the
0.5% minimum. Employee benefit plans for faculty and staff remain
unchanged with modest cost increases being absorbed by individual
budget units. Compensation for employees covered by AFSCME contracts
will follow the terms of those contracts.
With our budget finalized, we can now look ahead to the coming
academic year. Orientation for new students and their families has
gone extremely well, with more than 11,000 students and parents
visiting campus. Many positive comments were received about the warmth
and friendliness of the members of our campus community, and I want to
thank everyone who helped make orientation such a success. We
anticipate another record enrollment, as students continue to seek out
an Iowa State education because of the high quality experience that we
offer.
We were also pleased to close out the fiscal year with the official
end of our comprehensive fundraising campaign, which exceeded its $800
million goal by more than $60 million, and those funds have already
had a tremendous impact in so many areas across the university.
As we move into mid-summer, I want all of you to know how much I
appreciate the outstanding work you do in meeting the needs of our
students and our many other constituents, despite state support that
has decreased by nearly 24% over the past three years. I also want to
thank the many staff who work so hard to keep our campus looking
beautiful and operating efficiently, despite the many challenges we
have faced with severe storms and floods in recent years. We will
continue to work with Iowa's elected leaders to tell them about the
valuable work Iowa State University does for the people of Iowa and
how we need strong taxpayer support if we are to fulfill our mission
at the level needed for the long-term success of Iowa.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, and best wishes for a happy 4th of July
weekend!
Gregory L. Geoffroy
President
Office of the President
1750 Beardshear Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
(515) 294-2042
president@iastate.edu
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