Launching Hoya Faster: Working to Clear the Path for our Core Mission

Dear Colleagues,

The work we do at Georgetown every day—in our classrooms, laboratories, libraries, residence halls, administrative offices and beyond—has the power to change lives. As I shared in my recent message, I’ve had the privilege of listening to faculty and staff across the university as they have shared their deep dedication to our mission. And yet, I’ve also heard a consistent theme: too often, our collective momentum is slowed down by overly complex or outdated structures and procedures.

Introducing Hoya Faster

Today, I am excited to announce the launch of Hoya Faster, a new university-wide initiative, led in partnership with the Office of the Chief Operating Officer, dedicated to identifying operational pain points and reforming administrative processes that hold us back.

Tackling Administrative Complexity

Prior to my arrival, the leadership team launched an Ideas Initiative that solicited ideas for revenue generation and expense reduction. As I reviewed this process, an additional set of themes emerged around administrative friction and complexity. Excessively complex workflows aren’t just frustrating; they are wasteful and they are contrary to our Jesuit values, which call on us to let go of everything that does not contribute to the achievement of our primary mission.

Over time, operational complexity builds up as we add layer upon layer to our processes without taking the time to step back and consider what we are trying to accomplish. Many of our current processes were created with good intentions—to manage our budget limits or to ensure regulatory compliance. While we need to fulfill our fiduciary and legal responsibilities, we can do so without making everyday tasks unnecessarily difficult.

Higher education often talks about “doing more with less,” but in many cases, we can accomplish more by doing less—by eliminating administrative burdens so we can reinvest our time and energy into our core purposes of teaching, research, and student formation. Shifting an organizational culture and simplifying processes is never easy work, but it is critical work, especially at a time when the pressures we are facing in higher education require us to move with both speed and purpose.

We Need Your Help

The best ideas for fixing processes come directly from those who navigate them every day. Through Hoya Faster, we are inviting our community to submit suggestions for high-impact fixes to our administrative workflows. We want you to tell us what is getting in the way of your best work – whether it’s an over-engineered or unclear approval chain, a redundant form, an outdated policy, we want to hear your ideas for replacing unnecessary friction with more straightforward solutions.

How to Get Involved

We have created a brief submission form (<5 minutes to complete) where you can share your ideas and operational pain points:

• What we are looking for: Targeted, actionable recommendations to remove administrative burdens while keeping necessary safeguards intact.
• Where to submit: Share ideas via this submission form. 
• What happens next: The leadership team will regularly review submissions, prioritizing high-impact fixes that can be implemented quickly. Over the course of the fall semester, we will post regular updates to the Hoya Faster website.

Georgetown’s strength lies in its people. By clearing the path for you to do your best work, we are contributing to the achievement of Georgetown’s mission. Thank you in advance for your candor, your commitment to our shared work, and your help in making Georgetown a stronger institution.

Respectfully,

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President
Georgetown University