September 25, 2024
FY24 sees major accomplishments in continuous improvement work
Colleagues:
The Next-Gen K-State strategic plan urges us to change how we operate to better serve our students, workforce and communities. In his monthly update, President Linton shared ways we are achieving operational excellence as "One K-State." I want to highlight additional successes from FY24 that demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement. I'm proud of our accomplishments, which are helping K-State progress toward our vision of being a leading next-generation land-grant university.
Here are some key Operational Excellence successes from this past fiscal year:
Enhancing campus physical security, improving emergency management and mitigating risk
- Expanding the K-State State Alerts system to effectively reach more than 27,000 faculty, staff and students via text across all campuses.
- Beginning the process of standardizing campus security with the selection of a unified access-control system that will eventually replace 15 existing systems, alongside upgrades to security cameras and emergency response planning.
- Modernizing the international travel review and approval process to enhance safety for university personnel. The updates enable improved tracking of travelers during crises and provide timely information and assistance. Additionally, an International Incident Response Plan was developed, and the International Travel and Activity Policy was updated.
- Implementing a Youth Protection on Campus program, which has supported 65 youth camps/events since January 2024, including more than 500 background checks and extensive training for staff.
Advancing campus infrastructure: Master planning and addressing deferred maintenance
- Facilities launched the K-State Campus Master Plan initiative in January, engaging faculty, staff, alumni and the community through an interactive survey and town hall meetings across all three campuses. More than 3,787 people completed the survey, and 24 stakeholder meetings were held. The process will continue throughout 2024, with a finalized plan expected in 2025.
- Funding from the Kansas Legislature and one-to-one match funding provided by colleges and units drove multiple projects managed through Facilities to continue addressing the university's deferred maintenance backlog. The deferred maintenance backlog was reduced by $31 million in FY24 and $95 million over the last two years.
Improving business processes to streamline our work
- Financial Services developed a streamlined and more secure payment process for high-volume small dollar payments made to participants of university research projects. Since the beginning of the calendar year, more than 7,000 payments have been made using the improved process.
- Human Resources improved the Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, process to enhance the employee experience, reduce administrative burden to the colleges and major units, and increase compliance. The improvements made the FMLA process more efficient and accessible for employees and the university.
This list of accomplishments is just the beginning. As we keep improving our operations and adding value to the university and our community, I look forward to sharing more progress and successes with you in the coming months.
Go 'Cats!
Ethan Erickson
Vice President for Administration and Finance