The BEARS Region serves administrative units including the Chancellor and EVCP offices; administrative units; the University Library; Intercollegiate Athletics; Student Affairs; University Development and Alumni Relations; auxiliaries, and other units.
The BEARS Region is under the direction of Regional Vice Chancellor Marc Fisher, and the operational leadership of Lori Tannyhill, Regional Director.
During FY21, the region developed a BEARS Performance Dashboard report to track progress toward process improvement efforts and key performance indicators for Human Resources and Academic Personnel, Purchasing & Reimbursements, and Research Administration.
The BEARS Region also piloted two new Human Resources process improvements to create efficiency and offset resource constraints. These included utilizing mass file uploads to submit student "add jobs" in UCPath, and utilizing Repeatable Process Automation (BOTS) to submit New Hire Templates in UCPath.
Finally, all BEARS staff completed the Multicultural Education Program training as part of their ongoing focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
Looking ahead, the BEARS Region will continue to focus on innovation by evaluating processes for efficiency and transparency. This effort will be guided by the results of the BEARS service satisfaction survey which identified pain points in the delivery of service.
Following the SHARE and ProS Regions, BEARS will transition onboarding for new Berkeley employees from the BRS Central Services Team and bring that work into the region. It is hoped that this change in service delivery will shorten the timeline to hire and onboard new employees and improve communication with hiring managers.
Finally, the BEARS Region hopes to rebuild its internal team after enduring budget cuts and attrition due to COVID. As part of the rebuilding effort, the region will add a new Research Administrator position to handle the growing number of research proposals being serviced by BEARS while also looking for prospective new sources of funding for administrative initiatives. The BEARS Region will also consolidate payroll and human resources data entry into the new HR Transaction Specialist position, which will eliminate handoffs and improve transaction timelines.
