Faculty and staff members have submitted nearly 400 ideas for innovative ways UC Davis could generate savings or revenue as part of the IDEA$ at Work budget campaign.

EARLIER COVERAGE

• Help Turn Job Hassles Into Budget Opportunities
• Saving Money the Lean Six Sigma Way

Now is the time for you to send in your ideas and insights, as Tuesday, Jan. 31 is the deadline to participate in the campaign’s prize drawing for Mondavi Center tickets, UC Davis Stores gift cards and UC Davis swag packs. Everyone who chooses to enter the prize drawing will receive an email with coupon codes for free Athletics tickets and a discount to UC Davis Stores.

All ideas and insights will be reviewed by the Revenue Generation and Institutional Savings Task Force in its quest to identify $50 million in ongoing savings and net revenue to help address UC Davis’ core funds deficit. If your idea isn’t selected for broad use, it will be shared with specific leaders within colleges, schools or departments for further consideration at a local level.

The task force will continue to welcome ideas beyond Jan. 31, with the goal of collecting at least 1,000 — and when that happens, the campus will split a $6,000 donation between the ASUCD Pantry and the Staff Emergency Funds at UC Davis and UC Davis Health.

So keep those ideas coming, and while you’re thinking, here’s a look at 50 of the suggestions for budget opportunities and process improvements that have come in since the campaign launch in November:

• Establish grant-writing infrastructure
• Standardize IT tools
• Develop or expand nontraditional learner programs
• Establish a staff mentorship program
• Create a campus bike fleet
• Rent out laboratory space for private use
• Establish additional endowments to name schools and colleges
• Rent out space in the summer for camps or vacation programs
• Establish a centralized unit to provide consulting
• Lease roof space for cell phone towers and solar panels
• Maximize online general education offerings in the summer
• Create cannabis partnership research opportunities
• Transition to a four-day workweek
• Evaluate use of recharge on campus to improve efficiency
• Streamline new degree program approval
• Increase use of systemwide contracts
• Offer workforce certificate and credential programs
• Expand special education programs on campus
• Offer popular courses online to the public
• Expand academic administrative support to reduce burden on faculty
• Create flexible workspaces and expand hoteling
• Hire more instructors to allow research faculty to focus on research
• Offer a year of coursework online
• Expand flexibly scheduled course offerings
• Invest in tools to improve academic advising
• Centralize campus messaging
• Create an on-call nurse pool for UC Davis Health
• Allow sales at the Craft Center
• Expand the Research Administration certificate
• Establish Community Development Financial Institution designation to provide financial services to the community
• Increase delegation of spending authority for departments
• Create a ridesharing app for getting to and from campus
• Develop staff purchasing specialists
• Retrofit obsolete heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems
• Evaluate efficiency of the current Vendor Risk Assessment process
• Increase research collaboration outside the UC Davis community
• Implement DocuSign across the Sacramento campus
• Invest in an electronic regulatory system for research/clinical trial offices
• Improve the AggieBuy search tool
• Formalize an internship program
• Create a comfort animal program
• Charge for weekend parking
• Streamline the hiring process for faculty
• Add motion sensors to lighting
• Create a cycling safety class
• Install a billboard along Interstate 80
• Establish an electronic diploma system
• Create a campus tent rental service
• Establish a staff mentorship program
• Add an Amtrak train stop closer to campus

Do you have your own ideas or insights to add to any of these? Then make sure to share your thoughts now. Ideas can be submitted anonymously.

The task force, led by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan, has been doing outreach to gather ideas — and you’re invited to help. A toolkit with a slide deck and flyer is available for your use for brainstorming with your team or sharing this opportunity with colleagues.

Brenda Dawson is a marketing writer on the communications team in Finance, Operations and Administration.