Dear colleagues,
As I reflect on Rice’s 110th commencement, I am reminded of the extraordinary effort put forth by our F&A team members, whose hard work helped make this celebration and academic year a resounding success. Your contributions were invaluable, and I extend my heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you for exemplifying the very best of F&A and Rice. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to excellence.
This week also marked our May Board meeting, and I am grateful for everyone’s efforts in making it a resounding success. From coordinating PowerPoint presentations to food and service, our division played a pivotal role. I’m pleased to share that the FY24 budget has been approved. More details regarding our specific investments for the upcoming year will be available by May 19. In addition, our new Enterprise Risk Management priorities for FY24 have been approved, and many critical capital construction projects have been given the green light.
As my first academic year at Rice comes to a close, I am eager to carry on our mission of transforming our culture. We aim to not only build on our existing strengths but also enhance them through a relentless pursuit of excellence, innovation, and inclusion. This evolution is essential to support the growth ambitions of the university and align with our strategic plan. To facilitate our cultural transformation, we have launched a series of strategic initiatives. I’m excited to share new branding which ties these elements together and will be leveraged throughout F&A channels to serve as a visual reminder of our commitment to this work.
The six strategic initiatives that will contribute to our transformation include:
- HR Excellence - This initiative will position Human Resources as a strategic partner to campus units, with a focus on operational excellence, promoting employee engagement, compensation and benefits, professional development, developing a diverse and inclusive workplace, and developing a robust talent management infrastructure.
- Budget Transformation - This initiative will transform the way we manage our financial resources through the implementation of a new budget model, which will align incentives to our strategic priorities and provide greater transparency, simplicity, and responsiveness.
- Sustainability - This initiative will take a holistic approach to creating a more sustainable campus with a focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and develop and implement a roadmap to achieve our carbon-neutral goals by 2030.
- Capital Excellence - This initiative will optimize our capital investments, with a focus on project management and execution, risk assessment, and community engagement.
- Enterprise Risk Management - This initiative is taking a holistic approach to assessing for enterprise risk. Finance and Administration will serve a critical role in effectively minimizing our enterprise risk.
- iO Evolution - This initiative is focused on ensuring the university’s administrative system, iO, effectively meets the needs of the campus community. Continuous improvement efforts are already underway with the support of a robust design committee.
Our cultural transformation is a shared journey, and many of you have already made significant contributions to the strategic initiatives. I ask that you continue to lean into this work to demonstrate our division’s commitment to creating a culture of care, customer service, and operational excellence.
Finally, as we prepare for the summer, I encourage you to join our final Admin Forum of the fiscal year, which will be held on May 16. There are also a few spots open for the next Lunch and Listen session scheduled for May 18.
All my best,
Kelly Fox, Vice President for Finance and Administration