Student Housing and Dining Services Strategic Plan2021

I. Introduction

The Student Housing and Dining Services strategic plan, “Be Better, Build Forward”, sets the direction of the department for the next 5 years. The plan is aligned with the UC Davis strategic plan, “To Boldly Go” and is in support of the mission of the campus and the division of Student Affairs strategic planning. The plan outlines a set of strategic initiatives that serve as the pillars for the plan and a framework for the next 5-year period.

Be Better-Build Forward

In 2019, Student Housing and Dining Services developed the motto “Be Better-Build Forward” recognizing the need to always be better and to build our already benchmark program(s) forward. “Be Better” represents our daily duty to always strive to be better; for our residents, guests, staff, the campus community, and with the decisions we make. “Build Forward” represents not just our capital planning efforts, but also our efforts to build forward our programs and services; orientation (summer to fall program), basic needs security and support, diversity, equity and inclusion, operational efficiencies, etc. Together, this motto represents the foundation of this strategic plan and thus has been designated as the official title and theme of the plan.

Mike Sheehan was named the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Housing, Dining and Divisional Resources in May 2019, after serving in the interim role after Emily Galindo was appointed Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs in May 2018. Under Mike’s leadership, the Student Housing and Dining Services Leadership Team worked together in the summer of 2019 to review, update and expand foundational documents, and drafted the first version of the updated strategic plan. Following that, there were several engagements with groups of staff, in person and virtually and then a workgroup was created to finalize the plan (see Appendix A). This strategic plan is a living document that sets the direction for the department and serves as a planning framework to achieve our strategic initiatives. The timeline for this plan is 2021-2026.

II. Department Profile

Student Housing and Dining Services (SHDS) is a department and an auxiliary enterprise within the division of Student Affairs at UC Davis. Student Housing and Dining Services provides the following primary services to the UC Davis community:

  • housing services for UC Davis students and families,
  • dining services for UC Davis students and the campus community,
  • and support services that facilitate a successful transition into the UC Davis community while fostering development of ongoing learning and life-skills.

These primary services are guided by the department’s foundational Statements: Vision Statement | Unit Mission Statements | Statement of Ethics | Core Values.

Housing Services

We provide housing and dining to approximately 15,000* undergraduate, graduate, and students with families who live in on-campus residential facilities (university owner/managed and Public-Private-Partnerships). Learn more about UC Davis Public Private Partnerships (P3).

*15,000 is the anticipated population for fall quarter 2021.

Dining Services

We serve approximately 20,000 meals a day via a dining portfolio that includes residential (4 dining commons), retail (5 restaurants, 7 markets, 5 coffee shops, food trucks), culinary and catering services, and offers a range of meal plans. Dining Services also has responsibility for concessions and vending. Learn more about Dining Services.

Support Services

We provide student support and conference housing services to the campus and general community.

Structure

We are structured and organized into 6 units with supporting 23 sub-units. The six units are as follows:

  • Business and Financial Services (BFS)
  • Dining Services (DS)
  • Facilities Services (FS)
  • Inclusion and Organizational Development (IOD)
  • Office of Student Development (OSD)
  • Residential and Hospitality Services (RHS)

Staffing

We employ 1387 staff**:

  • 324 Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
  • 266 Part Time Equivalent (PTE)+
  • 797 Student staff

**Staff data as of January 2021.

+PTE refers to employees who work full-time during the academic year but may be furloughed over summer per their contract.

Facilities

We own and operate more than 100 residential, dining and administrative buildings totalling 1,945,134 gross square feet (expected in fall 2021 with the opening of Shasta Hall).

III. Our Strategic Initiatives

Student Housing and Dining Services has outlined the following strategic initiatives that serve as the pillars of our Strategic Plan. During the time period of this plan, SHDS will develop annual goals that support the progress of these initiatives:

Initiative: Expand Services to New and Underserved Student Populations

This initiative encompasses the following strategies:

  • Housing Guarantee & MOU: City of Davis, Yolo County and UC Davis
  • Capital Planning & Diversified Portfolio
  • Residential Curriculum Model
  • Address Housing and Food Insecurity

Housing Guarantee & MOU: City of Davis, Yolo County and UC Davis

In support of UC Davis’ mission and in line with other UC campuses, housing is guaranteed to all incoming first year freshmen and transfer students. For fall 2020, Student Housing and Dining Services extended the housing guarantee to include a second year guarantee of housing for returning first-year freshmen and transfer students. More than 90 percent of all incoming freshmen and 30 percent of incoming transfer students contract to live in on-campus student housing. Note: At the direction of UC Office of the President, the housing guarantee was suspended for 2020-21 due to COVID-19. Freshman and second year students are accommodated in single-, double-, and triple-occupancy residence hall rooms. First and second year transfer students are accommodated in studio apartments and apartments featuring single- and double-occupancy bedrooms.

Historically, most continuing students have chosen to live off campus for their second year and beyond, as Davis is a college town. The rental market in the City of Davis has been historically tight, meaning students often had to secure housing six months before the start of the new lease year, which starts September 1. In fall 2018, the City of Davis, County of Yolo, and the University of California, Davis agreed to a legally binding memorandum of understanding (MOU). The terms of the MOU include a commitment to build more on-campus housing for students, a joint transportation plan and traffic improvement projects, the elimination of master leases in the City of Davis, and forming a stronger town-gown partnership through a variety of collaborative activities. This MOU high-lights the need and importance of on-campus housing. Read the Inaugural Joint Housing Report (11/01/2019).The MOU states UC Davis would provide 100% of housing for any growth in enrollment. Student Housing and Dining Services master leases in the city ended in August 2020 when 1,005 new beds were made available through phase 1 of theThe Green at West Village project. Phase 2 of The Green at West Village project includes 2300 beds and is expected to open in fall 2021. Overall, UC Davis is committed to providing 12,500 beds by fall 2021 and 15,000 beds by fall 2023 - as of the date this plan was implemented, we are on track to meet this goal.

Capital Planning & Diversified Portfolio

To meet the obligation set forth in the 2018 Memorandum of Understanding, Student Housing and Dining Services has the following capital projects under construction or in planning:

  • The Green at West Village: this project is a P3 partnership with The Michaels Organization and Collegiate Housing Foundation, will provide ~3,300 beds for incoming transfers and continuing undergraduates. The first phase opened in fall 2020, and the remaining beds will be available by fall 2021.
  • Shasta Hall: this project is a residence hall project under construction at the former site of Emerson Hall in the Cuarto housing area. 800 beds, organized in a suite-style configuration, will be available for incoming freshman and second year students. This project will open in fall 2021.
  • Orchard Park Apartments This project will replace a decommissioned housing complex and is in the design phase and pending UC Regents approval. The plan is to develop 1,100 beds for single graduates, and 200 family/grad units. Total of approximately 1500 beds. This project will open for fall 2023.
  • Primero Grove: this project is an existing P3 property, with 181 studio, 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom apartments, in the Segundo housing area. The past several years, Student Housing and Dining Services has leased space in Primero Grove to provide first year and transfer housing to meet the housing guarantee. In fall 2021, the plan is to repurpose Primero Grove to meet the growing needs of student families and single graduate students. This transition may adjust slightly to include isolation/quarantine housing and space for first-year students, all due to COVID-19 response.
  • Solano Park Apartments: Approximately 60% of Solano Park apartments, a property on the southeast corner of campus, will be closed and demolished to provide land for a campus gateway to the Nishi Project. This will occur after the Primero Grove apartments are converted to family and graduate student housing. The Nishi project is scheduled to open in fall 2023 and, through a partnership with UC Davis, will provide 2,200 beds for continuing undergraduate and graduate students.

Diversified Portfolio: These projects will add to the diversified portfolio of housing options for UC Davis students. This portfolio meets the needs of incoming undergraduate students, continuing students, single graduate students, and student families. The portfolio includes different price points based on type of financing, age of facility, and amenities available.

Residential Curriculum Model

The Office of Student Development (OSD) will continue to implement best practices and meet the needs of the various student & student family populations in housing. In 2019, OSD began the process of creating a certified “Residential Curriculum” model that looks at meeting the needs of students individually, in small groups and in large groups. The creation of this co-curricular program allows for customization for various student groups and to ensure additional support for student academic success.

Address Housing and Food Insecurity

UC Davis, along with colleges and universities throughout the United States, has identified and begun addressing the needs of college students who are housing or food insecure. In 2018, UC Davis opened Aggie Compass to serve the needs of these students. To align with the campus goal of increasing supply and affordability of housing, Student Housing and Dining Services collaborates with Aggie Compass to provide food and other resources to Aggie Compass for redistribution.

Using UCOP funds allocated for this purpose, Student Housing and Dining Services created a Basic Needs Advocate position within the unit of Inclusion and Operational Development. This position collaborates with the Division of Student Affairs to address all matters that aid students' in their transition to off campus housing and supports food and housing insecurity on campus. Funding has been identified to provide direct support, including a comprehensive Rapid Rehousing program for homeless students that incorporates tools for financial management and independent living.

Mortgage Origination Program Funds have been made available from UCOP to each campus, to support student housing needs. In partnership with the Aggie Compass program, SHDS is using a portion of the funds to provide a $100 a month subsidy for 15% of the residents at The Green, based on financial need. SHDS is exploring continuation of this subsidy in future years through other means. A similar program will be created for the new Orchard Park community.

Dining Services (DS) is also considering the needs of additional apartment residents, having created a new meal plan for apartments (9 meals a week) that was designed to address students' food insecurity. Students who may have had the smaller meal plan were ineligible for CalFresh because the meal plan provided more than half of their meal. Having the 9 meals a week plan provides the opportunity for students to have dedicated meals on campus as well as qualify for CalFresh to assist with any food insecurity. DS also opened Sage Street Market and Cafe in 2020 supporting coffee and convenience store options to the West Village district neighborhood.


This strategic initiative is aligned with the following goal(s) in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go”:

  • Goal 1: Provide an educational experience that prepares all of our students to address the needs and challenges of a diverse and changing world.
  • Goal 3: Embrace diversity, practice inclusive excellence and strive for equity. Make UC Davis a place of excellence for learning and working by supporting a culture that values the contributions and aspirations of all our students, staff and faculty; promotes wellness and a culture of sustainability; and cultivates the open interchange of ideas.
  • Goal 5: Create an intellectual and physical environment that supports the development of an innovative and entrepreneurial culture that extends the benefits of our research activities beyond the boundaries of the university.

Initiative: Embrace Diversity and Strive for Inclusive and Organizational Excellence

This initiative encompasses the following strategies:

  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Objectives

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Objectives

In the 1980s, then the Student Housing department established a “UCD Student Housing Commitment” as a reflection of departmental policy as a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. This “Commitment” sparked the campus conversation and eventual development of the UC Davis Principles of Community. This statement can be found hanging in the Housing Administration Building today.

In 2019, Student Housing and Dining Services created a new unit, Inclusion and Organizational Development (IOD), to continue embracing diversity and striving for inclusive and organizational excellence. The goal for this new unit was to provide training and development opportunities that promote a workplace culture of respect and appreciation for diversity to drive innovation, improve effectiveness, and inspire departmental excellence for staff and students. A director was hired in fall 2019 to lead this new unit.

To achieve this strategic initiative, we will pursue the following objectives:

  • Advance our mission to create, develop and maintain a diverse and inclusive work environment. As stated in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go,” Goal #3: Embrace diversity, practice inclusive excellence and strive for equity. Make UC Davis a place of excellence for learning and working by supporting a culture that values the contributions and aspirations of all our students, staff and faculty; promotes wellness and a culture of sustainability; and cultivates the open interchange of ideas.
  • Build relationships, connections, and community within the various units and individuals within Student Housing and Dining Services.
  • The Leadership team employs team building, strategy sessions, problem solving, emergency response, and draws upon concepts from Brene Brown's book Dare to Lead, and the CliftonStrengths assessment tool, to build trust and staff cohesion. In addition, SHDS secured the services of UC Davis Organizational Excellence, to lead group sessions to build trust, improve working relationships, and develop strategies to address complex and challenging work problems more efficiently as a team.
  • Improve recruitment process to increase diversity of candidate pool and update and refine interview questions to identify individuals who align with our core values. UC Davis has updated the annual evaluation process to require a Diversity and Inclusion goal for every employee.
  • IOD and Human Resources collaborate to create appropriate goals for staff with various roles and at different levels within the department.
  • Diversity education is incorporated into all aspects of the student development residential curriculum including their dining experiences at the global Latitude Restaurant and Market.
  • In support of institutional efforts to achieve inclusionary excellence, SHDS has developed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy. The DEI strategy is a mechanism to align systemic policies and practices with our IOD mission and goals. We strive to promote a workplace culture of respect and appreciation for diversity to drive innovation, improve effectiveness, and inspire departmental excellence. We purposefully implement services and programs aimed toward this goal while simultaneously focusing on the experiences of staff and students to uncover and address systemic inequities. We approach diversity, equity, and inclusion as an ongoing journey of observing and addressing the deep rooted dogmas imbedded in the fabric of our organization.
  • SHDS established a department-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee in fall 2020, coordinated under the Director of Inclusion and Organizational Development, that works in an advisory capacity for the implementation of the DEI departmental strategy. As a collective body, this group will guide processes and procedures to conduct current state analysis, research data on best practices for professional development, and make customized recommendations on achieving DEI priorities. Throughout the year, the committee will work collaboratively to offer recommendations to the director and the SHDS Leadership Team.
  • The DEI committee will:
    • Use data gathered from strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) process and demographic data to examine the employee life cycle from an inclusionary lens.
    • Evaluate specific existing processes, practices, and policies to identify systemic challenges to DEI goals.
    • Create a DEI train-the-trainers model for professional staff development Identify metrics, key milestones, and check points to track strategy progression.
    • Provide an end of year document about actions items accomplished and next steps.

This strategic initiative is aligned with the following goal(s) in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go”:

  • Goal 3: Embrace diversity, practice inclusive excellence and strive for equity. Make UC Davis a place of excellence for learning and working by supporting a culture that values the contributions and aspirations of all our students, staff and faculty; promotes wellness and a culture of sustainability; and cultivates the open interchange of ideas.

Initiative: Pursue Operational Excellence and Outgrow Our Reputation

This initiative encompasses the following strategies:

  • Outgrow our Reputation
  • Operational Excellence: Administrative Efficiencies
  • Operational Excellence: Dining Efficiencies
  • Operational Excellence: Facilities Efficiencies

Outgrow our Reputation

As stated in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go,” Goal #4: Support our community, region, state, nation and world through mutually beneficial and impactful partnerships that reflect a firm commitment to our mission and increase the visibility and reputation of the university, and in line with UC Davis’ new mantra, “Outgrow the Expected”, we seek to “Outgrow our Reputation” by identifying and implementing strategies to pursue benchmark programs, become nationally ranked and to find new ways to tell our story.

Operational Excellence: Administrative Efficiencies

On top of our strategy to “Outgrow our Reputation”, we will strive to “Be Better” by pursuing operational excellence. We will improve department daily operations and workplace efficiencies by pursuing the following objectives:

  • Regularly assess internal practices through regular meetings and incorporating new technology software changes.
  • Implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) that capture business decisions and outline processes, to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Review existing agreements with campus partners to reduce costs and improve services.

Operational Excellence: Dining Efficiencies

Dining U: Improve Dining Services daily operations and workplace efficiencies by implementing Dining U, a training program that sets a clear path for growth opportunities for all employees:

  • Update and implement training materials including videos, pictures, and written manuals for each shift, at each unit that clearly illustrates the shift expectations, SOPs, and timeline standards.
  • Engaged mentorship program with side by side practical training to expose employees to different functions throughout the dining operations.
  • Additional series of training courses including online sessions, active classroom, and assigned reading materials.

Sustainability: As a sustainability leader for the UC system, Dining Services will continue to implement and increase sustainable practices and food procurement for campus. We strive to actively work with partners to improve sustainability efforts and are committed to the reduction and elimination of single-use items in line with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and the State of California’s Zero Waste goals outlined in the UCOP Sustainable Practices Policy. The “policy will transition UC away from plastic bags in retail and dining locations and eventually eliminate single-use plastic food service items and plastic bottles.”

Operational Excellence: Facilities Efficiencies

Improve Facilities Services daily operations and workplace efficiencies by pursuing the following objectives:

  • Facilities Services will utilize the work order and inventory asset management system to track all preventative maintenance tasks and account for assets and inventory. This eliminates redundancy in inventory and reduces waste.
  • Facilities Services will develop a phased action plan for updating the secured access control system for all facilities, including the introduction of “smart cards”.
  • Facilities Services will create a short term and long term maintenance and custodial plan to specifically address academic-year breaks, conference housing and orientation.

This strategic initiative is aligned with the following goal(s) in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go”:

  • Goal 3: Embrace diversity, practice inclusive excellence and strive for equity. Make UC Davis a place of excellence for learning and working by supporting a culture that values the contributions and aspirations of all our students, staff and faculty; promotes wellness and a culture of sustainability; and cultivates the open interchange of ideas.
  • Goal 4: Support our community, region, state, nation and world through mutually beneficial and impactful partnerships that reflect a firm commitment to our mission and increase the visibility and reputation of the university.
  • Goal 5: Create an intellectual and physical environment that supports the development of an innovative and entrepreneurial culture that extends the benefits of our research activities beyond the boundaries of the university.

Initiative: Mitigate COVID-19, Recover and Build Forward

This initiative encompasses the following strategies:

  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Recovery
  • COVID-19 Mitigation

COVID-19

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is well known. Shelter in Place orders that took effect at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and public health guidance throughout the pandemic resulted in a significant reduction in the number of students who chose to live on campus in spring quarter 2020. All UC Housing and Dining programs were greatly impacted by this situation, and the UC Office of the President worked with each campus to support recovery efforts.

During spring quarter 2020, students were given the opportunity to cancel their housing contracts and return home and receive a full refund of their remaining spring room and board charges. Over 90% of students took this option, resulting in a loss of $35M in income and net impact of reduction of reserves to $5M (after $16M in Federal stimulus CARES funds allocated to the department). Students and their families were provided the same opportunity to cancel their housing contracts and remain at home for fall quarter 2020, as the vast majority of fall quarter classes were taught remotely. In October 2020, a $90M net loss in planned income was projected for the 20/21 fiscal year, assuming fall 2020 occupancy through the balance of this academic year. The operating budget was reduced significantly, mostly through unfilled vacant positions, reassignment of staff to other departments, and reduction of controllable and other costs. There are currently discussions for a loan from UCOP bond funds to cover the projected shortfall for this year. For detailed financial information re: the impact of COVID-19 to the SHDS budget, please see Appendix E.

COVID-19 Mitigation

The following actions and objectives support COVID-19 mitigation:

  • Assisted the campus, City of Davis and Yolo County by creating and overseeing a 400 bed on-campus isolation & quarantine housing program. Program provided 24-hours a day/7 days a week housing, food and personal care services to on & off campus students and community members that were referred by the Student Health and Counseling Services department or the Yolo County Public Health.
  • Provide monthly reports to campus and department leadership regarding financial impact of COVID-19 on income, expenses, labor resources and long term plans. Reports are broken down by area
  • Student occupancy reduction and room reassignments (single occupancy bedrooms in the residence halls, reduced density in apartments, one apartment complex taken offline for dedicated isolation space) and limited or no access to common spaces within buildings
  • Additional cleaning protocols in all areas where students live and dine, and staff work
  • Highly modified dining operations, pivoting from to-go options only to partial indoor dining, as local guidelines allow.
  • Vacancy Management Program (not a hiring freeze, but when resignations occur, SHDS must demonstrate the critical need to replace positions).
  • Federal Corona Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds made available from allotment to UC Davis - $16M identified from 2019/20 fiscal year
  • UCOP emergency paid administrative leave of 128 hours, plus FFCRA paid time off, has provided relief to employees directly or indirectly impacted by COVID-19, with an associated cost to the department
  • Mandatory testing for all staff on campus starting December 1, 2020
  • Assessed the impacts COVID had on staff by providing a survey regarding staff concerns around job security, safety in the workplace, personal protection equipment and protocols, teleworking and adapting to new ways of managing productivity and team development

COVID-19 Recovery

The following actions and objectives will support Student Housing and Dining Services COVID-19 recovery:

  • Potential loan from UC bond issue
  • Retirement and resignations, requiring temporary restructuring but resulting in a reduction in Student Housing and Dining Services labor costs
  • Temporary reassignment of Student Housing and Dining Services staff to other campus departments and the UC Davis Medical Center, maintaining staff employment while temporarily reducing Student Housing and Dining Services labor costs
  • Temporary and permanent closing of retail units
  • Temporary suspension or elimination of travel and entertainment expenditures
  • Return students to campus as soon as county and State health officials provide support and guidance, and student demand returns

This strategic initiative is aligned with the following goal(s) in UC Davis’ strategic plan, “To Boldly Go”:

  • Goal 1: Provide an educational experience that prepares all of our students to address the needs and challenges of a diverse and changing world.

IV. Next Steps

As stated in the Introduction, “Be Better and Build Forward” is a living document that will set the direction for the department over the course of the next 5 years.

The leadership team will establish a structure to track and report progress of this plan on an annual basis by setting annual goals and benchmarks that will be assessed through annual reports. We will review this plan on an annual basis to inform the annual budget process and any other annual goals to ensure our own accountability and alignment with our strategic plan.

V. Appendix A: Strategic Plan Process and Timeline

Strategic Plan Process and Timeline: the development of this plan occurred over the period from December 2019 to January 2021 via the following phases:

  • Phase 1 | December 2019: Mike Sheehan, Ramona Hernandez and Richard Ronquillo convened to brainstorm the initial outline and intent for the updated plan.
  • Phase 2 | January 2020:
    • Leadership Team (LT) reviewed 2014 plan and discussed outline for new plan.
    • LT hosted annual gathering, “SHDS Winter Town Hall”, presented outline and solicited feedback.
  • *March 2020: COVID-19 BREAK
  • Phase 3 | July 2020:
    • Revisited and continued progress of plan in Summer 2020
    • Established workgroup comprised of the following SHDS staff: Ramona Hernandez (lead), Duane Lindsay, Richard Ronquillo, Chris Fallon.
  • Phase 4 | Fall 2020: Workgroup created version 1 of the draft plan and reviewed with LT.
  • Phase 5 | October 2020: Ramona presented an updated outline and the plans set of “Strategic Initiatives” at Fall Gathering 2020 to SHDS staff.
  • Phase 6 | October-December 2020: Workgroup updated draft version of the plan and solicited feedback from LT, the Managers Team and the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
  • Phase 7 | January 2021:
    • SHDS Marketing sub-unit developed beta version of the plan on the SHDS public website.
    • Beta version of the plan emailed to all SHDS staff for reference and review.
    • Finalize plan and implementation (end of January).

V. Appendix B: UC Davis and Student Affairs Resources & Documents

UC Davis Strategic Plan

Student Affairs Strategic Planning Website

2018 Long Range Development Plan

MOU City of Davis, Yolo County, UC Davis

 

V. Appendix C: Student Housing and Dining Services Resources and Documents

Organizational Charts

Vision, Mission, Statement of Ethics and Core Values

V. Appendix D: Residence Halls and The Green at West Village Bed Space Supply and Demand, fall 2020-spring 2026

Information to be made available at a later date.

V. Appendix E: COVID-19 Budget Impact Summary

Information to be made available at a later date.