Creative cost-cutting ideas from Duke community

Duke's Master of Arts in Teaching Program, which prepares graduate students to teach English, math, social studies and science in secondary schools, interviews about 40 applicants from across the country each spring.

Looking to cut recruiting costs during these challenging budget times, the program moved ahead last month with an idea from staff assistant Felisha Small to use video calling to conduct interviews. The department installed Skype, a free Internet software that works with inexpensive webcams. The move drastically reduced the amount spent on lodging and meals for out-of-town recruits.

"We were still able to have face-to-face interaction without requiring the applicants to travel and it allowed us to reduce our recruiting expenses more than $3,000, about half of what we had budgeted," Small said.

Small is among more than a dozen Duke students, faculty and staff who have submitted cost-cutting suggestions through a new Duke website, "Enduring A Troubled Economy," which serves as a central location for information about Duke's efforts to manage expenses.

Other suggestions submitted so far include using motion-detector lights where appropriate to save on electricity costs, using centralized printing, copying and scanning equipment, and expanding employee health programs to reduce the cost of health insurance and improve productivity.

Duke graduate student Pablo Gainza turns off lights and adjusts the temperature to cut costs at home and in his office in the Computer Science department. He suggested Duke consider a campus-wide, energy-efficiency program to promote turning off lights when rooms are vacant, and to adjust building temperatures in the summer to 78 degrees to reduce air conditioning costs.

Small, who posted the suggestion to use Skype for video calls, said she's glad university leaders are soliciting ideas from the Duke community. She visited the site after learning about it from an e-mail message that President Richard H. Brodhead sent March 1 to staff, faculty and students.

"The site is very informative and I think it's a good idea that Duke is soliciting ideas from employees and students," said Small, who worked in the accounting department of a Roxboro bank before joining Duke two years ago. "I knew about Skype because my husband uses it to talk with his parents. By using it in our department at Duke, the only expense we incurred was the purchase of a $35 webcam."

Along with providing a place for Duke staff, faculty and students to share valuable feedback, the website contains messages from university leaders, details about Duke's financial status and news on how the current economic climate is impacting higher education.