Core Commitments

Operational Excellence

Our continued trajectory in pursuit of excellence requires courageous aspirations and a clear-eyed understanding of our operational reality. USF’s historical boldness must also involve looking inward with careful reflection on resources, internal processes, and our institutional risk management posture to achieve our goals.

This begins with efforts to advance our university business systems and infrastructure, revisit and revise our policies and procedures to improve operational efficiencies, and become more proactive rather than reactive. In addition, we will prioritize transparent financial stewardship and a refreshed budget planning process that supports strategic investments and reinforces a focus on strengthening USF’s commitment to academic excellence. Operational excellence will also be reflected in ongoing efforts to accelerate our commitment to supplier diversity through our Office of Supplier Diversity.

Accelerating our rate of progress will inevitably necessitate taking additional risks. Analyzing risk proactively from an enterprise perspective enables responsible risk management and allows us to embrace risk as an opportunity. As a result, enterprise risk management is increasingly understood (and utilized) as both a necessary and a strategic tool for identifying, assessing, and managing risks in higher education.

USF already enjoys a low barrier to internal collaboration—among faculty and our academic leaders and across organizations and disciplines. Refining how we work in supporting our core mission should also result in a virtuous cycle where innovation enables operational efficiencies and engenders a healthy work culture.