In March, six UC Santa Barbara staff members traveled to UC San Diego to attend the 2023 Process Palooza conference. This group of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belt recipients spent two days networking with fellow continuous-improvement enthusiasts, spreading collective knowledge across the UC system in an organized and impactful way.
Process Palooza is a conference, expo, and competition for the UC community that focuses on crafting practical improvement ideas for university processes and celebrating the improvements made from LSS Green Belt projects. With 2023 marking the return to a largely in-person format, hundreds of staff, faculty, students, researchers, and more gathered at the UC San Diego campus on March 28 and 29 for this event. Process Palooza provides these attendees with an opportunity to learn new continuous improvement practices for their organizations based on their colleagues’ experiences.
Katie Mankins, Director of Process Management for UCSB Information Technology Services, heads the Lean Six Sigma initiative at UC Santa Barbara. As a Process Palooza veteran, Mankins has brought several UCSB colleagues to this conference throughout her years administering the LSS Yellow and Green Belt programs. UCSB attendee Jen Johansen describes her experience this year, saying, “Attending Process Palooza at UC San Diego was like unlocking a world of process innovation possibilities. From witnessing the excitement of this rapid improvement event to learning new concepts, the conference provided a fresh perspective on the art and science of an exemplary UC continuous improvement culture.”
Marsha Robertson, Anne Turley, Alejandra Orozco, and Francesca Palermino attended along with Johansen and Mankins, showcasing seven of the program’s process improvement projects at the conference and highlighting the advancements made across the UCSB campus as a result. From decreased onboarding time for student hires to standardized procedures for student transcript processing, various departments have benefitted from their staff participating in the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program.
