Rice University’s Office of Finance and Administration has changed its name to the Division of Operations, Finance and Support (OF&S). The name change was spurred by a process to create a five-year divisional plan to support the ambitions of President Reginald DesRoches’ forthcoming university strategic plan.
OF&S’s strategic plan serves as the guiding light for the division as it pursues transformational initiatives and redoubles its efforts to support the growth objectives of the president, said Kelly Fox, executive vice president for OF&S.
Announced March 1, the new name signals an elevated plan for how OF&S can support the overall success of the university, Fox said.
“The name Operations, Finance and Support, in my opinion, effectively captures all that we are doing,” she said. “By ending with that ‘support’ word, it is really talking about the underpinning that we provide to the university. It demonstrates the caring community that we create. It helps to envision a new day for all that we are taking on.”
Leveraging feedback and insights from a wide range of community members, Fox and her team incorporated this input to refine the division’s mission and vision statements, while the OF&S working group used it to create divisional goals and objectives.
“We’re committed to excellence in every aspect of our service,” Fox said. “This means we go the extra mile to enhance customer satisfaction at every opportunity. We’re going to deliver an unparalleled customer experience with a diverse community by fostering a culture of empathy, transparency and responsiveness while anticipating the evolving needs of our university.”
The university community is invited to the recently published OF&S strategic plan website to learn more about the effort. Fox and her team plan to provide a deeper dive into the plan’s goals, objectives and initiatives for the campus in April.