Hopes that the UI could escape the budget crisis without layoffs ended Tuesday when officials sent layoff notices to 11 staff members.

Employees from UI Pharmaceuticals are the first to receive such notice since the state Board of Regents approved part of the UI’s plan to plug a $24.7 million shortfall on Oct. 29.

University officials said they had hoped to protect staff and faculty, but budget woes forced them to resort to the layoffs.

“Very few, if any, layoffs will be needed to reach the original budget target cutbacks,” UI President Sally Mason told the regents at their Oct. 29 meeting.

The loss of 400 positions, along with losses through attrition and retirement over the last year, had allowed Mason to all but eliminate layoffs as an option in her plan.

UI Pharmaceuticals is a service division of the College of Pharmacy. UI spokesman Tom Moore said he couldn’t disclose the positions or salaries of those laid off from the division.

The group manufactures, tests, and develops drugs for clients — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute.

It develops products both commercially and for clinical trials and is collaborating with faculty from the College of Pharmacy. UI Pharmaceuticals began developing additional facilities at Oakdale Research Park in June.

Officials from the College of Pharmacy were not available for comment on Wednesday.

Administrators can’t set a timeline for when the employees will actually leave the UI, Moore said.

The regents must approve the layoffs, and it wasn’t clear Wednesday evening whether they would discuss the issue at their Dec. 10 meeting. That date could also depend on employees’ contracts and notification period, Moore added.

Officials at the state’s other regent universities haven’t sent any layoff notices since their mid-year budget proposals were approved. None of the three institutions included layoffs in the plans presented to regents, but all left the possibility open. Iowa State University had layoffs as part of the restructuring of its extension service earlier this fiscal year.

In hopes of avoiding layoffs, officials implemented several other options, including furlough days, hiring and salary freezes, and early and phased retirement.

Administrators will use left over federal stimulus money as well. A $100 tuition surcharge and tuition increase are still on the table; on Monday, the regents announced they would delay voting on the tuition increase until February.