Category: OE Updates
OE Update — 10/4/2024
Good afternoon, In the world of higher education, collaboration and thought partnership often serve as the cornerstone of success. This spirit inspired the OE team’s recent visit to two highly regarded institutions: Georgia Institute of Technology and Clemson University. Led by Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, Ph.D., the team at Georgia Tech welcomed … Read more
OE Update — 9/27/2024
Good afternoon, This month, OE is highlighting Cliff Jones ‘11 in our campus partner spotlight. Cliff serves as senior assistant dean with UNC Advising, guiding students in discovering connections between their interests and their educational or professional journeys. He recently partnered with OE as a design team member, playing an … Read more
OE Update — 9/20/2024
Good afternoon, I am delighted to announce the launch of OE’s newest project: Credit Bearing Certificates – Campus Services. Building on the work completed during our Credit Bearing Certificates project, we’re focusing our efforts on clarifying campus services for non-degree students in graduate credit-bearing certificates to support growth, ensure student … Read more
OE Update — 9/6/24
Good afternoon, Yesterday, two dozen of your colleagues headed to the Quad. Not to sunbathe, but to attend an Operational Excellence training. Senior Transformation Manager Georgia McRae and Transformation Manager Nick Sengstaken delivered our Lean Foundations training. Lean Foundations is the first training in our three-part training series, the others … Read more
OE Update — 8/30/2024
Good afternoon, I am delighted to announce one of the OE Team’s newest projects: The College of Arts and Sciences HR Navigator Project. This initiative, led by our embedded transformation manager, Evan Widney, aims to enhance HR process clarity, expediency, and accessibility within the College by developing meaningful resources and … Read more
OE Update — 8/23/2024
Good afternoon, How do you manage failure or the challenges that you face in your work? The image below metaphorically aligns with Operational Excellence’s mission to act as a catalyst for change and a champion of transformation. The left square reflects a common perception of failure as a negative endpoint. … Read more
OE Update — 8/9/2024
Good afternoon, Last week, the OE team took part in a successful workshop entitled “Learning Your Lessons: From Discovery to Closeout,” led by Embedded Transformation Manager Carson Flynn. This interactive session brought our team together to reflect on the processes our office has developed over the past six years and … Read more
OE Update — 8/2/2024
Good afternoon, Last week, members of the Operational Excellence team attended the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation (NCCI) Annual Conference. Candace and I presented the “Carolina Embedded Transformation Model,” Georgia and Nick presented “Setting Your Project Team up for Success,” and Candace also presented “How to Leverage AI in … Read more
OE Update — 7/26/2024
Good afternoon, In this month’s campus partner spotlight, OE is highlighting Matt O’Neal who serves as the associate dean for finance and administration at the Adams School of Dentistry. In his current role, he oversees financial affairs, human resources, the office of computing and information systems, facilities, and clinic operations. … Read more
OE Update — 7/19/2024
Good afternoon, This May, we announced the launch of the Operational Excellence Faculty Hiring project. Over the past six weeks, the design team led by Transformation Manager David Hare, has taken a solution design approach to uncover the root cause of the faculty hiring pain points. The team is working towards identifying solutions for each identified challenge. This … Read more
OE Update — 7/12/2024
Good afternoon, If you have recently visited the Operational Excellence office, you have seen the Vince Lombardi quote on our wall, “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” Since 2018, OE has interacted with over 1,200 individuals from every major campus unit, … Read more
OE Update — 6/28/2024
Good afternoon, Operational Excellence is happy to provide advising to campus partners, and I’m excited to announce that we are piloting Operational Excellence Office Hours. On Thursdays from 3:00-4:00pm starting July 11, you can meet with a member of our team to: Discuss how to overcome a roadblock in an … Read more
OE Update — 6/21/2024
Good afternoon, As part of our campus partner spotlight, this month OE is highlighting Ashante Diallo, the associate dean for human resources in the College of Arts and Sciences. In her current role, she oversees the human resources functions for the largest academic unit on campus, ensuring effective human resource … Read more
OE Update — 6/17/2024
Good afternoon, Last month, the OE team participated in two events promoting workplace wellness. As the wellness co-champion for the OE team and the chancellor’s office, OE Program Coordinator Vernadette Delos Santos identifies opportunities to enhance employee well-being and morale. The Wellness Champions initiative aims to establish employee wellness committees … Read more
OE Update — 6/7/2024
Good afternoon, I am delighted to announce the launch of the OE Team’s newest project: Faculty Hiring. This project is designed to improve the faculty hiring experience for internal stakeholders and external candidates. The team will document and map out the entire faculty hiring process while clarifying stakeholder responsibilities, defining … Read more
OE Update — 5/24/2024
Good afternoon, One of our primary focus areas in Operational Excellence is to develop continuous improvement competencies across campus. To that end, we offer several trainings each year, and I am excited to announce that we are releasing the dates for our three trainings this fall: Lean Foundations – Thursday, … Read more
OE Update — 05/10/2024
Good afternoon, In February, I had the pleasure of announcing OE’s collaboration with Enrollment Management, the College of Arts and Sciences and Student Affairs to support the New Student Registration Experience project. Today, I’d like to share an update on OE’s involvement in this exciting project. Associate Director for Operational … Read more
OE Update — 4/26/2024
Good afternoon, This week we want to highlight our support of the Graduate Student Experience (GSE) Initiative through advising and facilitation. I’m a member of the GSE Steering Committee and through those conversations, Beth Mayer-Davis, Dean of The Graduate School, and I saw the opportunity for Operational Excellence to support … Read more
OE Update — 4/19/2024
Good afternoon, In the spirit of continuous improvement, the Operational Excellence team has recently been examining its onboarding process. Last month, after 5 weeks in the role, David Hare conducted interviews with the team to gather valuable insights into the onboarding experience. These interviews formed the basis for an internal … Read more
OE Update — 4/5/2024
Good afternoon, Last month, Transformation Managers Georgia McRae and Nick Sengstaken became certified change management trainers after completing Prosci’s Train-the-Trainer Program Level 1. This certification enables them to continue transforming OE’s educational offerings by expanding into the world of change management and helping our campus community deliver project results. Exploring … Read more