The Academic Personnel Office (APO) will prepare the list of eligible faculty members annually after the July payroll deadline. This allows them to take into account separations occurring at the end of the academic year as well as relevant actions that are effective July 1st. APO will send the list to the Campus Budget Office (CBO) in September. CBO will match eligible faculty with chartstring data that were collected in prior years, send the pre-populated list to Divisions, and facilitate the resolution of anomalies.
Divisions will be asked to help identify and resolve discrepancies, validate the chartstring data, note any changes, and provide a DeptID and Chartfield 2 (CF2) for any new faculty members. When providing DeptID information we strongly encourage L4 Departments to use the least number of DeptIDs per L4 as possible. BEAR funds have their own unique fund number (69770 – BEAR grants) and Chartfield 1 (3BEARS). For tracking purposes it is very important that the faculty member’s CF2 be used on all transactions.
CBO will transfer funds directly to faculty members’ individual chartstrings in November. BEAR funds will be administered by the same unit and staff who regularly administers each faculty’s other funds (e.g., CSS or department staff).
Each faculty member’s BEAR funds must be expended from the same DeptID and CF2 to which it is initially transferred. Transfers out of the initial allocation chartstring are not allowed, with two exceptions: 1) if a faculty member wishes to use BEAR funds as cost-sharing on a grant, the funds may be transferred to the appropriate Chartfield 1 (CF1), retaining the same DeptID and CF2; and 2) transfers to the Library will be allowed in the future – this policy is currently under development and additional information will be provided soon.
As noted in Section C above, although the fund type is unrestricted, the program does not allow faculty members themselves to receive any form of compensation from BEAR funds (i.e., while they may be reimbursed for their research-related expenses, they may not draw summer salary, stipends, etc.). The official launch date of the BEAR program was July 1, 2014. Therefore, only expenses incurred on or after that date may be charged to BEAR funds.
July 1 carry-forward balances will be checked prior to the transfer of additional funds each year to ensure that no faculty member exceeds the maximum allowable amount. The BEAR fund will be subject to the campus deficit clearing process. Fund information is available in PI Portfolio and BAIRS. Fund 69770 falls into the Unrestricted Funds bucket in Cal Planning and will not be added as a specific value.
For questions regarding faculty eligibility for the BEAR program, please contact your Dean’s Office Academic Personnel Analyst. Deans’ Analysts may contact the Academic Personnel Office (APO) if they determine that additional assistance is needed.
For questions regarding the administration and use of BEAR funds, please contact your decanal finance lead (DFL).