Members of the SCU Community,

In September of 2016, I invited the campus community to join in a comprehensive process of reviewing and assessing current operations and recommending ways to improve efficiencies and effectiveness. I communicated the goals of the project as follows: “We shall look for means of cutting costs to meet short-term and long-term resource needs. In tandem with cutting costs, we also shall identify ways to generate new revenue by capitalizing on new business opportunities and/or expanding current ones. Our Ignatian heritage will inform and inspire both the process and its outcomes” (Campus message, 9/28/16).

Thanks to the participation of so many members of the University community, today, I am happy to announce the results of this extensive university-wide process. I have outlined below the initiatives that I have decided to implement based upon the thoughtful and comprehensive feedback and input from the campus community. These bold initiatives will help ensure that SCU remains in a position of strength in the coming years, and will enable us to continue to live out our mission of education, justice, and sustainability. As we move into this implementation phase, I will continue to consult with the University Coordinating Committee to determine how our collaborative governance system can remain engaged as we move forward with these initiatives. 

I want to express my gratitude to all the members of the campus community who participated in this project. The long-term success of the Sustaining Excellence Project will be evidenced by our attention to implementing ideas that increase efficiencies that result in both cost-savings and revenue-generation. I firmly believe that improving financial awareness and responsibility in all areas of the University will benefit SCU long into the future. I am very confident that we will continue to build upon a culture of innovative thinking focused on enhancements, efficiency, and adaptability to continue to deliver a premier Jesuit education to our students.

Sincerely,

Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President

IDEAS TO BE IMPLEMENTED

SCU will explore alternative models for summer orientation that seek to reduce the number of individual orientation sessions that we offer. There are several core benefits driving this desired change. Firstly, we can free up additional facilities and housing space for use in the summer for new programming with revenue potential. Additionally, a new orientation model could reduce travel needs for incoming students and families with a net positive impact on our carbon footprint. Finally, a new model would reduce expenses for incoming students in our effort to remain cost-conscious amid rising costs in higher education. Our orientation is a high-caliber program and we are dedicated to maintaining this level of quality with any new model. As this issue impacts many constituents across campus, a phase for further research is neccesary that will involve campus representatives and will seek input from the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs policy committees.

NEXT STEP
Provost Jacobs will convene a group and oversee development of a new summer orientation model to be presented to Fr. Engh by June 1, 2018 for potential implementation in summer 2019.

SCU will increase summer offerings, both academic and non-academic, by supporting schools and units in developing new summer initiatives. SCU’s campus facilities and our location in Silicon Valley provide a highly desirable environment for high demand, robust summer programs. SCU has an opportunity to capitalize on both of these distinctive attributes by increasing our summer program offerings to generate additional revenue for the institution. New pilot programs will enable us to meet the needs of our students and local community, enhance the SCU brand, and provide developmental opportunities for our faculty and staff to innovate.  

NEXT STEP
Provost Jacobs, in collaboration with Michael Crowley (incoming Vice President for Finance and Administration), will oversee the development of pilot programs to launch in summer 2019.  Provost Jacobs will coordinate with the Deans to develop program content offerings, and Michael Crowley will oversee the implementation of the financial infrastructure to support the pilot initiatives.   

SCU will review and revise its financial structure, guidelines, and policies around resource management and allocation. The goal of this review will be to cut costs through enhanced efficiency and to generate revenue by incentivizing innovative new programs and initiatives. Our new financial models will be based on the changing context of higher education and designed to ensure SCU’s business plan realizes the long term success of the strategic plan.

NEXT STEP
The incoming Vice President for Finance and Administration, Michael Crowley, will oversee the implementation of this priority when he begins his appointment on February 16, 2018. Chris Shay will oversee the handoff of this priority as he completes his services as the current interim head of finance. Projected full implementation is set for July 1, 2019.

SCU will institute centralized purchasing across the institution in order to maximize and leverage the buying power of the university in negotiating competitive prices with vendors. This change will lead to substantive cost savings and enhance our capacity to implement best practices for purchasing across all areas of SCU.

NEXT STEP
Chris Shay is serving as the point person and will deliver a project plan to Fr. Engh by February 15, 2018. Initial implementation will go live for July 1, 2018 to kick off the next fiscal year with a full implementation completed by June 30, 2019.

SCU will centralize event planning professionals from University Relations and University Protocols and Events to enhance efficiencies and incorporate event planning best practices across events.

NEXT STEP
Jim Lyons will oversee the launch of the new University Events Planning office by April 1, 2018.

SCU will be implementing the Workday Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to replace our current Peoplesoft system.  Workday is a modern cloud-based ERP that provides significant operational advantages and an extremely enhanced user experience. This new technology will enable SCU to provide enhanced services and more efficient workflows. A new ERP will enable us to adapt to future needs with greater agility and responsiveness.

NEXT STEP
Bob Owen will oversee the implementation, with Phase 1 kicking off in March 2018 and a projected completion date of July 2019. Full implementation is projected to be completed by July 2021.