Interim Provost Forrest Maltzman, presenting on behalf of George Washington President Steven Knapp, introduced examples of initiatives to reduce university bureaucracy at Friday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
Removing bureaucratic obstacles has been an effort Dr. Knapp, the university vice presidents and deans have been working to achieve, Dr. Maltzman said. He read a message from Dr. Knapp, who missed Friday’s meeting to attend a funeral.
“Many of these efforts are still in progress,” Dr. Knapp wrote. “But I would like to give you a sense of how we are proceeding by introducing two illustrative and encouraging presentations.”
Process improvement projects include efforts to streamline the hiring of research staff by bringing a formerly paper-intensive procedure into the online system used for all other staff hiring. Research staff at GW will be hired in the future through the university’s applicant-tracking system, a Web-based, sequential platform already used to hire all other staff employees. Research staff had previously been hired through a non-standardized and somewhat repetitive process unique to the school or college where the new employee would work.
“There had been a number of recurrences to create the position—to create the posting in some cases,” said Dale McLeod, interim vice president for human resources. “We’ve streamlined that.”
Another area for improvement is student background checks, Mr. McLeod said. The university previously required all student employees to pass a background check. A more efficient way is to use background checks for certain positions, Mr. McLeod said, like students who work in campus safety and security, students working with sensitive information—including account numbers, credit cards and Social Security numbers—or those with keys to buildings or offices.
“What we sought to do was limit the number of background checks,” he said. “We’ve redefined what positions are applicable.”
Jelena Roljevic, left, and Gina Lohr present on the Principal Investigator Dashboard. (William Atkins/GW Today)
Another efficiency effort is the Principal Investigator Dashboard, which the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Division of Information Technology created in 2013. The online tool organizes financial information, allowing researchers to better manage grant finances and providing them with real-time access to data that previously existed only in static reports.
Last fiscal year, the tool was used to manage $186 million in total expenditures, said Gina Lohr, assistant vice president for research.
“PIs can focus on their research,” said Jelena Roljevic, assistant vice president for business intelligence services. “[The dashboard] provides easier cost analysis and maximizes utilization of grants.”
Two resolutions passed
The senate passed two resolutions Friday. The first called upon the board to include in the Faculty Code a procedure for amending the Code. The resolution, which passed unanimously, suggests that amendments to the Faculty Code may be proposed by either the Board of Trustees or the senate. And, it proposes a requirement upon the board to consult with the senate on any amendment to the code proposed by the board and not previously endorsed by a senate resolution.
“I think many of us, if not all of us, feel that it’s highly desirable that we establish a specific and explicit procedure for amending the Faculty Code so that we would not have questions going forward as to how that should be done or what the role of the Faculty Senate should be,” said Arthur Wilmarth, chair of the Faculty Senate’s Professional Ethics and Academic Freedom Committee.
The second resolution concerns the contribution of the university to staff and faculty health insurance costs. It also passed unanimously. The resolution calls for the university contribution for health insurance costs to be no less than 75 percent of the total cost, in line with the national average. And, it suggests that the expense necessary to accomplish this not be derived from a reduction in covered health services, increased deductibles, a reduction in other staff/faculty compensation, or the curtailing of academic activities.
Charles Garris was reappointed as chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. (William Atkins/GW Today)
Other notes from Friday:
The May senate meeting, originally scheduled for May 13, was rescheduled for May 6.
Several appointments and nominations were made as part of senate general business. Among them, Charles Garris was reappointed as chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Steve Charnovitz was reappointed as senate parliamentarian.
Dr. Maltzman closed by highlighting some recent campus news, including the men’s basketball team’s NIT championship and the ongoing admitted students days, which began Friday and continue through April 22.