Phase 3: Building a Strong and Healthy Foundation
As we start Phase 3 — Building a Strong and Healthy Foundation — it is important to recognize that these first initiatives are not an end unto themselves. Rather, they serve, along with our flexibility, commitment, and resolve; to remove barriers and to build a strong and healthy foundation that will lead us to financial fitness, sustainability, and ultimately enable us to achieve our strategic objectives.
The Process
In October of 2020, we launched the Strategic Budget Initiate (SBI) which was designed to be a collaborative, strategic undertaking to identify both short-term operational and longer-term opportunities to improve our financial position. That work has been powered by five task forces and sixteen working groups responsible for idea generation, analysis, validation, and recommendations in distinct subject areas.
Over the past seven months, over 300 faculty and staff have engaged directly in the SBI with thousands more participating in surveys, meetings and campus conversations. Overall hundreds of ideas were generated, researched, evaluated, and prioritized with 23 initiatives ultimately presented to a broad leadership team—including all Deans—with the potential to save or generate millions of dollars.
The Initiatives
The final Working Group Reports presented to leadership in May 2021 are linked below. A subset of initiatives from these reports were selected to move forward to implementation.
Research & Innovation
Increase and enhance faculty research through new support mechanisms
Enhancing Research Productivity
Facilitating Researcher Success (FRS)
Streamlining Facilities and Space
Academic Portfolio
Expand programing to reach new student segments
Tuition Revenue Share Strategy
Masters Program Development & Management
Stony Brook Medicine
Improve efficiency/facilitate collaboration through improved processes & support
Optimization Across SBM Professional Schools
Operations Alignment
Reduce administrative burden by streamlining and automating processes
External Clients Joint Working Group
Streamlining Recruitment and Hiring
Optimization of Campus Resources
Grow available resources with new revenue streams and cost containment strategy
Sponsorship & Brand Partnerships
The Steps to Implementation
While not every initiative will follow the same path or timeline, generally speaking, progress for each will fall into the following stages:
- Planning & Preparation
- Launch & Execution
- Monitor & Adjust
- Completion
More detail around the individual initiatives can be found by clicking on each above.