Update on Hoya Faster

Dear Colleagues,

Following the September 1 launch of Hoya Faster, I write to thank you for the tremendous engagement on this initiative from across the university. In the two weeks following our announcement, faculty and staff have shared more than 175 detailed submissions pinpointing organizational friction points and offering practical solutions.

What We Heard

Your submissions spanned operational and academic areas across the university. While individual experiences varied, four core themes emerged:

• Procurement Challenges and Hiring Bottlenecks: Delays in contracting, technology purchases, vendor registrations and eRequest approval timelines frequently slow down daily operations.
  
  
• Overreliance on “Self-Service” Workflows: Tasks that many in our community are not regularly completing — such as spend authorizations, requisitions and eRequest submissions — often demand specialized administrative knowledge without dedicated support or navigators.
  
  
• Technology Review and Systems Friction: Complicated IT reviews of new contract or supply requests, offline forms and a lack of integrated tools for space booking and event management hinder productivity.
  
  
• Communication and Status Transparency: Difficulties in identifying individual points of contact, alongside limited visibility into request statuses, create unnecessary follow-up burden.

How We Are Moving Forward

To translate this feedback into tangible improvements, I have composed a cross-functional team that is already working to prioritize implementation of submissions, as well as identifying where work is already underway that we can share with our community. I want to thank Kristen Consolo Hall, Senior Associate Vice President and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief Operating Officer, for her leadership of the Hoya Faster team, and our colleagues for their collaborative spirit in moving this work forward.

By the end of September, we will update the Hoya Faster website with the following:

1. Initial “Easy Answers” & Quick Fixes: A summary of quick wins already implemented, clear answers to common misconceptions, and direct links to timely and accurate resources. Additionally, the team will work to outline key initiatives already underway that will address submissions.
   
   
2. Prioritized Action Plan: A list of key focus areas and system improvements that we will tackle next, based on the submissions we received, along with target timelines for implementation.

Thank you again for your partnership in making Georgetown work better and faster for everyone.

Respectfully,

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President