Business Affairs Bulletin

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FROM LEADERSHIP TO LEAN: Transforming UT Dallas

In our last Business Affairs Bulletin, we spent time discussing leadership and the role it plays in advancing the University’s agenda. We discussed leadership as being about great processes that lead to great results. This edition focuses on developing the philosophy, culture, and tools to improve those processes. Lean University is a concept to advance the development of processes and systems to effectively and efficiently deliver services to our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community.

Lean is often a symbolic gesture synonymous to efficiency. It is a term used very frequently in the business vernacular, but seldom in higher education. With the growing cost of conducting business in higher education, identifying process improvement opportunities can lead to significant savings in time and resources. These are savings that can be strategically reinvested in critical university needs. Heretofore the resources have not always been available to support the enormous demands that face all of us on a daily basis.

In a world where inactivity has led to a generation of individuals who are challenged by fluctuations in weight, lean has a somewhat different meaning. Yet lean denotes a sense of characteristically implied effectiveness that is an attitude and behavior adjustment. Lean is about processes, people, and how they work together to accomplish operational excellence. It is in essence, a cultural change! For UT Dallas, lean is a necessary change if we are to maximize our potential of becoming a true Tier One university.

Why lean and why is UT Dallas focusing on this initiative? We all recognize that going forward there is a finite amount of resources available to support operational costs that continue to increase at a rate far exceeding the annual cost of living adjustments. We also understand that there are many antiquated processes that impede our ability to realize the true potential of UT Dallas. Finally, we have an opportunity to live up to our vision of Creating the Future — of how to develop, grow, and operate an efficient and effective Tier One university. To accomplish this, we must first make sure that the infrastructure has the capacity, process improvements, and system modernization needed to absorb the growth.

Lean is not only an issue for Business Affairs; it is a university-wide issue . Over the next several months, we will begin a process to incorporate lean principles and processes in every aspect of University operations. This issue of the Business Affairs Bulletin includes details on process improvements for student bill payments and financial aid, introduces a new emergency evacuation plan, promotes community wellness, highlights outstanding employee accomplishments and provides information on Lean University training. The exciting journey continues!

Dr. Calvin D. Jamison
Vice President for Business Affairs