UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Optimized Service Team (OST) initiative at Penn State, a multi-year effort to reimagine shared support and services across the University, continues to progress. Project leads are sharing status updates on the effort, which is engaging campuses, colleges, and administrative and academic units in an optimization exercise in key functional areas across the University — Development and Alumni Relations (DDAR), information technology (IT), finance, facilities and safety.
The goal of the Optimized Service Teams — in alignment with Penn State’s mission, strategic priorities, and the recent roadmap released by University leadership — is to optimize business practices, enhance service and support for the University community, and create career pathways and development opportunities for staff.
While most of these efforts are still in the early stages, several milestones have been reached over the past 18 months that set the stage for future phases. Among these efforts, the distinct Commonwealth Campuses workstream was dissolved, and the campuses are now included in each of the five groups. Currently, the DDAR and safety workstreams are nearly finalized with the first phase of their work complete. Upcoming efforts will focus on the IT and finance workstreams.
As Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Michael Wade Smith recently shared, “Our focus has been to take our time to understand the nuances in each of these areas so that we can make the right decisions, take the right steps and evaluate as we go — to create efficiencies while not losing critical support in our units ... We will be phasing in these OSTs, which will not only allow us to move forward but also be able to assess and right-set changes as we proceed.”
The workstreams — which are working closely with the Office of Enterprise Change and Transformation, Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz, Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business and Treasurer Sara Thorndike — continue to be co-led by each corresponding functional area’s leadership and an academic senior leader:
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Information Technology — Chris Lucas, interim vice president for information technology and chief information officer, and Tracy Langkilde, dean of the Eberly College of Science.
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Finance — Virginia Teachey, associate vice president for finance, and Craig Newschaffer, dean of the College of Health and Human Development.
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Development and Alumni Relations — David Lieb, interim vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, and Clarence Lang, dean of the College of the Liberal Arts.
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Safety — Bill Sitzabee, vice president for facilities management and planning and chief facilities officer, and Lee Kump, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
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Facilities — Bill Sitzabee, vice president for facilities management and planning and chief facilities officer, and Kimberly Lawless, dean of the College of Education.
“We appreciate the insights the workstream leaders and staff members have shared so far to help us understand where we are today and the directions we want to take in the future. Their contributions have shaped our efforts and provided the foundation for true advancement,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “As this process moves forward, we will be engaging with consultants for their expertise and gathering stakeholder feedback that will guide our strategic approach to reshape these vital functions for the future.”
Information Technology
IT across Penn State is fundamental to every University activity, enabling education, research and collaboration. The goals of the OST are to increase efficiency and effectiveness, improve customer satisfaction of University stakeholders and develop clear career pathways for IT professionals.
In the summer and fall of 2023, OST team leads and staff members engaged with 64 units across all campuses to create a “current state” report that inventoried existing IT systems, personnel and contracts. (The Applied Research Laboratory and the Pennsylvania College of Technology were not included in this assessment.) Similar information gathering is ongoing to evaluate IT operations within Intercollegiate Athletics and the College of Medicine. The report detailing this work was delivered to University leadership and shared with IT personnel and the Academic Leadership Council (ALC) in December 2023.
As part of this process, OST co-leads Lucas and Langkilde hosted several drop-in listening sessions with IT staff to collect their feedback and gather considerations, and a town hall for IT staff will be scheduled. In addition, progress and findings were recently presented to the University IT Executive Advisory Committee, Academic Leadership Council and Faculty Senate.
This spring, the IT workstream will engage a third-party consultant to analyze the current OST findings, identify and collect any missing data, engage with key University stakeholders, benchmark with other higher education institutions, and make recommendations for a “future state” for Penn State IT across the entire University.
“Partnering with a consultant will help us navigate this complex process to assess the strengths and areas of opportunity. Our goal is to align our future state with best practices across higher education and, most importantly, with the needs of students, faculty and staff,” said Lucas. “We truly appreciate the feedback we’ve received so far and remain committed to ongoing engagement and information sharing throughout this process.”
In preparation for the next steps and the creation of the 2026 budget, salaries for IT staff (not reporting lines) in the OST-purview units will be transitioned to Penn State IT’s central budget for fiscal year 2026 (this change will not apply to the Applied Research Laboratory or Pennsylvania College of Technology). This change aligns with broader University efforts to modernize its business operations and will be included in the 2026 budget presented to the Board of Trustees for approval in July 2024. No decisions have been made to change reporting, organizational structure, systems, or contracts; these and additional changes will not be made until recommendations from the consultant engagement are analyzed.
This semester, several more drop-in listening sessions are planned and information about community-wide updates for IT staff to share updates and solicit feedback will be forthcoming.
For staff or community members who have questions or feedback about this process, please reach out to ITOST@psu.edu.
Finance
Workstream efforts to optimize financial processes across the University are in the initial stages of a phased approach that will ramp up this year. Over the last six months, the workstream has been engaging with financial officers, budget executives, and external experts and consultants to guide this process. A partnership with a consulting firm will begin in February.
In phase one, over the next six months, Penn State will begin a “current state” review of its financial services and processes at all campuses. This information gathering and analysis phase will include an inventory of all financial processes, personnel and systems across Penn State. As part of this effort, the consultant and the University will identify two to three finance areas to initially optimize and transition to a centralized hub model in Finance and Business.
In anticipation of the work ahead, the finance workstream will soon be restructured, and current members of the workstream will join functional committees that will work directly with project managers in the Office of Enterprise Change and Transformation, Finance and Business leadership and the consultant. Chaired by Newschaffer, an expanded OST advisory group will also be established, which will consist of several academic deans at University Park, Commonwealth Campus chancellors and central unit budget executives. Carlos Rodriguez, associate vice president for finance and business services for Commonwealth Campuses, and Teachey will continue to support the functional committees and the advisory group.
“We know staff members will have questions about what this means, however it is early in the process, but we will be creating opportunities for discussion and collaboration as we progress thoughtfully through this process to unlock greater efficiency in our financial systems and services,” said Teachey. “Our goal is to emerge with a more streamlined and sustainable financial ecosystem that benefits our financial staff and the broader University.”
Staff members with questions about the finance OST and the upcoming process can email FinanceOST@psu.edu with questions and feedback.
Additional workstream updates
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Development and Alumni Relations: The DDAR workstream is nearly complete with the first phase of its work, which included a comprehensive review of DDAR staffing, resource allocation and work processes. Some of the recommendations to optimize strategies and efforts have been implemented, and additional optimization efforts will be underway once a permanent vice president of Development and Alumni Relations is named.
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Safety: The safety workstream recently completed a comprehensive review of safety operations at University Park and is currently working on developing a series of recommendations to work through over the coming months.
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Facilities: This month, the facilities workstream will begin an information-gathering phase to enhance operations, find efficiencies and identify ways to support facilities at all campuses. There are no changes expected over the next six to nine months during this initial phase, and updates will be provided to staff members in these functional areas.
As Penn State continues this multi-year journey to optimize shared support and services, University leadership remains committed to staff engagement and information sharing, and the workstreams will provide regular updates throughout the process.