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September 27, 2002
Geoffroy: ISU success depends on faculty
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President Gregory Geoffroy shakes the hand of Michael Apley, associate
professor in the Veterinary Medicine College and holder of the W. Eugene and
Linda Lloyd Endowed Professorship. During convocation Sept. 23, Geoffroy
presented medallions to holders of named faculty chairs and professorships.
He intends to recognize new appointees at future convocations. In his
state-of-the-university address, Geoffroy said Iowa State will continue its
quest for excellence despite budget cuts. Photo by Bob
Elbert. |
by Linda Charles
Despite budget cuts, Iowa State will continue its quest for excellence, in
part through rebuilding the faculty, President Gregory Geoffroy told the
campus community during the fall convocation Sept. 23.
With a 19 percent reduction in state funding over the last two years, the
university has lost 415 positions during a time that enrollment has been at
record levels, Geoffroy said.
"Most disturbing is the loss in the number of faculty positions, since
faculty are at the core of all of our activities, and the loss in faculty is
having a dramatic negative impact," he said.
Part of the reduction in faculty will be addressed through six recently
announced academic initiatives, Geoffroy said. The interdisciplinary
initiatives will focus on food safety and food security, combinatorial
discovery (a new analytical chemistry method for discovering and testing new
materials), human computer interaction, bioeconomy, information
infrastructure and integrated animal genomics.
Geoffroy said most of the seed funding for the six initiatives will be used
to create new faculty positions.
"The success of each of these new initiatives, and the success of the
university as a whole, depends upon our faculty. To be the best in
fulfilling our land-grant mission, we must truly have outstanding faculty --
faculty who are the leaders in their disciplines," he said.
World leaders
Geoffroy said increasing the excellence of the faculty will be one of the
university's highest priorities. Faculty recruitment procedures will be
reviewed to ensure new faculty have the potential to develop into world
leaders in their fields and that the compensation and recruitment packages
are competitive with those offered to top faculty elsewhere.
Iowa State also needs to recruit several senior faculty who are at the top
of their fields, he said.
"We need more faculty at that level -- faculty who significantly raise the
excellence of their departments, who attract the very best graduate students
and who keep our undergraduate programs at the cutting edge in their
disciplines."
In addition, Geoffroy has asked Provost Benjamin Allen to identify a few
areas that would benefit from a cluster of faculty hires (ideally, a mix of
junior and senior faculty).
"And finally, we must focus on restoring our faculty numbers to the level
appropriate for the excellence we seek," Geoffroy said.
Top priorities
During his state-of-the-university address, Geoffroy reemphasized the three
priorities he has had since he came to campus last year: more nationally
recognized academic programs, top-quality education for students and a
university attuned to the needs of the people of Iowa. He also added a
fourth priority: foster diversity and a welcoming climate for all members of
the university community.
Geoffroy said the university needs continually to assess the curricula.
"As just one example, I believe now is the time to explore the establishment
of a degree program in information sciences and technology, a curriculum
that would lie between our traditional computer science, computer
engineering and management information systems degree programs," he said.
Leopold Center funds
Geoffroy said Iowa State also has a responsibility to the people of Iowa.
Whether it's called "service," "outreach" or "engagement," Geoffroy said,
"What it all really means is that as one of the nation's land-grant
universities, we have a fundamental responsibility to serve the state of
Iowa and its citizens and to be a full partner in those service and
engagement activities."
The president said Iowa State will "work especially hard this year to repair
the damage caused by the deep budget cuts to our several economic
development programs and to the Leopold Center."
He noted he did not think the Legislature singled out those programs for
cuts because they were not considered valuable, but rather because they were
easy to cut in the final hours of the budget-balancing process.
In addition to doing a better job of serving the citizens of Iowa, the
university needs to do a better job of letting Iowans know what it does for
them, Geoffroy said.
The right thing
His fourth priority, fostering diversity, "is absolutely the right and the
just thing to do," Geoffroy said.
Although a diversity plan is being developed, Geoffroy said some steps need
to be taken immediately. They include elevating campus conversation about
diversity topics to keep it at the forefront; making opportunities to
celebrate diversity; developing specific goals and strategies for recruiting
a diverse faculty, staff and student body; and ensuring campus leadership
has a strong commitment to diversity causes.
The text and video of President Geoffroy's convocation speech is online at
http://www.iastate.edu/~president/speeches/02/convo.
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Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111
Published by: University Relations,
online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1995-2001, Iowa State University. All rights reserved.
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