Through the Fast Five, Operations, Finance & Support keeps Rice's faculty and staff current on key initiatives and updates. If you’re new to Rice or could use a refresh, here are the top Fast Five features for Fiscal Year 2026:
Financial Outlook & Strategic Investments
- What is Rice's FY27 Budget Outlook? Rice’s FY27 budget will focus on continuing commitments aligned with strategic priorities, with limited capacity for new requests. Read More
- VSIP: Looking Back and Looking Ahead: Kelly Fox shares what VSIP means for our workforce today — and how we’re building momentum for tomorrow. Read More
- Investing in What Matters Most: Our People: Rice is making intentional, data-driven investments in the areas employees value most. Read More
- Total Rewards Initiative: Continued Investments in Staff Pay and Benefits: Rice continues its multi-year investment in staff pay and benefits with new FY27 enhancements. Read More
Furthering our Strategic Goals
Operational Excellence
- Asana Expansion: More Seats, More Collaboration, More Impact: Building on progress—OF&S increases licensing to welcome more teams into the enterprise instance of Asana. Read More
- Space Matters: How Rice Is Rethinking Every Square Foot: What Rice's new space model means for your day-to-day. Read More
Customer Experience
- Facilities Reimagined: What’s Changed and What’s Next: As Facilities Reimagined expands, so does its impact—strengthening service, streamlining work and supporting the people behind it. Read More
- Building a Better HR Experience: A new HR transformation effort is underway at Rice to reduce complexity, improve service consistency and make day-to-day processes easier to navigate. Read More
Community of Care
- How Rice Plans Security for High-Profile Speakers: Rice’s interim chief of police shares how planning, partnership and preparation keep high-profile events safe — and conversations open. Read More
- Building a Digitally Accessible Rice: Digital accessibility is more than a regulatory requirement, it is a blueprint for clearer, more effective communication across the university. Read More
Organizational Changes
- Strengthening Service: Updates to Campus Safety & Research Security and Real Estate & Facilities: Two organizational changes aim to provide better service to the Rice community. Read More
- New Updates in the OF&S Transformation Journey: Discover how new leadership in Facilities and organizational shifts within OIT and Operational Excellence are unifying OF&S for greater impact. Read More
Employee Perks
- Employee Perks Around Town: Enjoy exclusive discounts with your Rice ID at a range of local businesses near campus. Read More
- Traveling Smarter: New Tools and Discounts: Rice enhances its travel program with new booking portals, updated hotel listings, and a one-stop travel website. Read More