Lindsay France/University Photography

Kellie Page, program manager of the Division of Student and Academic Services' streamlining initiative, speaks about the program Nov. 16.

Cornell's Conference Services could boost its revenue by $500,000 annually by fiscal year 2014, an initiative manager said Nov. 16 at an event focusing on streamlining in the area of student and academic services.

The university is working to book venues earlier than it has been able to in the past, which would attract larger conferences to campus, said Kellie Page, program manager of the Division of Student and Academic Services' (SAS) streamlining initiative.

"It's a very different conversation with a client if you say, 'Trust us, we'll have a 250-seat auditorium for you,' or give an address of where it is," added Marty Rauker, director of Campus Life Enterprise Services, at the discussion in Willard Straight Hall.

The event was the last of seven updates this semester on key initiatives in the university's Administrative Streamlining Program. Proceeds from the program will help the university pay down its $80 million structural deficit.

Meeting the $500,000 goal will depend on Conference Services' ability to make better use of university space, said Page, who is also assistant vice president for SAS. Conference Services can now book academic spaces in April each year, after summer session classes have been scheduled. But organizers of large conferences need confirmation of space as much as two years in advance.

Traditionally the university has had empty rooms and venues during some summer weeks, said Barbara Romano, director of Residential and Event Services. "But ... there is some reluctance for faculty to bring their affiliated associations or societies to campus because they know that we really can't guarantee what space they would be able to use."

To help solve the problem, a universitywide task force has gathered data that indicates Cornell has enough space for both academic needs and conferences during the summer; it will make recommendations on next steps in the next few weeks, Rauker said. And the university is conducting a space study and piloting room scheduling software, Page said.

The university would have to analyze the campuswide demand for conference services to determine if it could afford to build and sustain a conference center, Page said in answer to an audience member's question. "I think there's a need; it's just having the dollars to be able to do it," she said.

"Right now, it is not a university priority," she added after the event.

Overall the SAS streamlining initiative is on course to pare university contributions by nearly $2 million by 2015 by cutting costs and increasing revenues, Page said. Besides conferences services, the initiative's other components are:

A committee that explored rates and occupancy for graduate student housing found that current rates lag behind peer and market prices, that graduate housing does not cover its costs and that the demand for on-campus housing now exceeds supply, Page said.

Questions from audience members centered on the university's liability when hosting conferences that include minors, funding cuts to sports teams and replacing Maplewood, the graduate housing complex.