Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.38
Liaison Jeremy King
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Denison University
IN-26: Innovation C

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Jeremy King
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Office of the President
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Denison Continuous Improvement

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:

Denison started a formal process improvement initiative on campus and selected the Director of Sustainability to lead those efforts. The initiative focuses on the premise that be effective and sustainable as a university, we must be both effective and efficient with our resources. Every part of Denison, administrative and academic alike, play a critical and shared role.

Denison Continuous Improvement (DCI) is a systematic method of continuously improving processes to better meet and exceed stakeholder needs and expectations. At Denison, we hope to create a community of practice where all of us feel empowered to suggest and make changes that will benefit the college.

DCI will be aided by both the Engagement & Communications Committee and a new DCI Resource Group. This group consists of a handful of Denison employees from across the college that have experience and expertise in various aspects of process improvement. Its role will be to help facilitate process improvement by providing resources and guidance to groups embarking on an improvement activity.

Denison Continuous Improvement (DCI) is a resource designed to support Communities of Practice (CoP) across the university as they seek to improve their effectiveness, experience and efficiency. A Community of Practice is a group of folks who are doing the work of the group, not an outside organization, and who take responsibility for identifying and improving processes in their own groups. As individuals and groups within Denison identify opportunities for improvement, the DCI Resource Group will be available to provide assistance with additional resources. These resources might include facilitation experts, subject matter experts, professional development for your CoP to help us improve our processes, and connections to resources across campus.

This initiative is in its first year and has been positively received by campus. So far, Denison has eliminated paper-centered processes involving credit card purchases, vacation leave requests, and key requisitions and replaced them with online processes that are saving paper and staff time while increasing employee satisfaction. Improvement efforts have also led to improved communication pathways across the campus.


Which of the following impact areas does the innovation most closely relate to? (select up to three):
Purchasing
Waste
Wellbeing & Work

A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
---

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.