Financial Stewardship Institute participants presented their capstone projects March 20 in the Erb Memorial Union Crater Lake Room, wrapping up about six months of learning and collaboration.
Over those six months, participants in the annual program attended sessions given by finance and administration leaders. Session topics included budgeting and finance, payroll and human resources, safety and risk, and internal controls. To apply what they’d learned, participants were assigned to small groups to provide consultation to campus sponsors seeking help with a particular issue.
Jackie Hall, sponsored projects administrator in Sponsored Projects Services, who presented at the capstone, found a good deal of value in participating in the institute.
“I learned a lot from the project and putting together the presentation,” Hall said. “But the best part is the collaboration with fabulous colleagues.”
“Participating in FSI enables employees to make better informed decisions on the job with the information they learn,” said Jamie Moffitt, senior vice president for finance and administration. “FSI gives them hands-on experience tackling real challenges in higher education, and valuable connections with peers and university leaders.”
José Dominguez, chief information security officer and sponsor of one of the consultation projects, was enthusiastic about the institute and the support he received from his consulting group.
“This was a great opportunity for everybody around,” Dominguez said. “[FSI] allows individuals around the university to come together and think through problems and then come up with ideas. I was very fortunate to get a team to think about my proposal for a cybersecurity professional residency program.”
Titles of this year’s projects were:
- Future Cost Projection—UO Student Food Pantry.
- Participant Incentive Payment Options for Research Units.
- Feasibility of Fee-based Pre-college/Bridge Program.
- Building a Cybersecurity Professional Resilience Program.
Nominations for next year’s cohort will open in August, and the call for project proposals will go out during fall term.
—Anna Duncan, University Communications
—Top photo: A group presents the “Building a Cybersecurity Professional Resilience Program”