Announcing the Travel Service Team Optimization Taskforce
Dear Lumberjacks,
I wanted to take this opportune moment to share a note of sincere thanks to our NAU community for a memorable and record-breaking Giving Day on Wednesday. This year represented the fourth edition of Giving Day at NAU, and it was a record for both funds raised and individuals participating.
The pride of our Lumberjacks was on full display through acts of kindness, philanthropic commitment, and rich engagement that helps us deliver on the promise of broad access to an exceptional education for students in Arizona and beyond. Thank you to our supporters and alumni near and far, to the NAU Foundation and Alumni Association Boards, and to the exceptional team in Advancement | Foundation for making this day a success for our university. The bar is set very high indeed for 2023!
Travel Service Team Optimization Taskforce
I also wanted to follow up on the news shared last week and formally announce the membership and charge of our 30-day Travel Service Team Optimization Taskforce.
Work will commence next week for a month-long period to advance recommendations aimed at improving both our policies and processes for travel service delivery throughout the university. This work will be guided by a solutions-oriented mindset to consider all dimensions of our travel model, including speed, accuracy, compliance, communication, delegation of responsibility, administrative streamlining, and opportunities for automation, among other areas.
I want to thank the following individuals for serving on this coordinating group, who will work to synthesize the input from both the policy and process work groups into a cohesive recommendation using their varied perspectives and experiences to inform their work:
- Wendy Swartz (Associate Vice President, Financial Administration)
- Katherine Florman (Assistant Director, Financial Administration)
- Singne Slayton (Assistant Manager, Financial Administration)
- Bryan Cornn (Assistant Director, Financial Oversight, NAU Athletics)
- Karletta Jones (Manager, Financial Oversight, W.A. Franke College of Business)
- Constantin Ciocanel (Chair and Professor, Mechanical Engineering)
- Matthew Wint (Grant and Project Support Coordinator, Senior, College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences)
- Bree Bullard (Administrative Services Assistant, Senior, Center for Health Equity Research)
Ultimately, the taskforce will provide a report with recommended optimization measures—encompassing both processes and policies—for review by the University Advisory Board, with implementation occurring over the summer.
I am appreciative of the individuals serving on the taskforce, the ongoing dedication of our service team staff, and all members of our university community for supporting our efforts toward greater effectiveness and efficiency in our administrative service delivery. Finally, as noted last week, I look forward to how this optimization effort can serve as a model that can be used to refine other areas of our administrative operations in the future.
Wishing all in our NAU community a restful weekend.
Sincerely,