Berkeley Excellence Accounts for Research (BEAR)

Information For Faculty And Administrators & Policy Statement September 2022

Launched in the fall of 2014, the BEAR program is intended to support Berkeley's faculty in the Professor series and the Teaching Professor series as they advance their research, scholarship, and creative accomplishment. The program was approved as a three-year pilot funded through a portion of the indirect costs that the campus recovers from granting agencies, the consolidation of other programs, and additional campus revenues. The program provides up to $4,000 in unrestricted research funds per year to eligible faculty members. In spring of 2017 a decision was made to continue the program, but with some revisions which are detailed below. In fall 2022, teaching professors were added to the program.

A. General eligibility

  1. Funds will be provided to Berkeley faculty in the Professor series and the Teaching Professor series only (i.e., those who are (Acting) Assistant Professor, (Acting) Associate Professor, (Acting) Professor, Assistant Teaching Professor (LPSOE), Associate Teaching Professor (LSOE) or Teaching Professor (Sr. LSOE)). Teaching professors are included in this program starting in fall 2022. 

  2. Funds will not be provided to faculty who are appointed to endowed chairs or Chancellor Professorships with annual research payout of $10,000 or more, unless the chair they hold has been formally designated as an administrative chair. Faculty appointed to chairs with annual payout of less than $10,000 will be eligible to receive BEAR funding. 

  3. Funds will not be provided to faculty who can expect to receive research support of $10,000 or more, which they can use for their own research purposes, from intra- and extramural grants or research gifts. Note, for this purpose, BEAR is not considered an intramural grant, nor are funds provided as part of startup and retention packages provided they do not derive from endowed chairs or Chancellor Professorships. Note, too, training or center grants, where the funds go to support others (e.g., doctoral students), are not considered grants in this regard even if the faculty member is the PI.

  4. Each faculty member’s eligibility for BEAR funds will be determined annually by the campus’s Academic Personnel Office in accordance with the guidelines in this document. Faculty members will be notified of their eligibility each year by their department or dean’s office.

B.  Provision of BEAR funding

  1. BEAR funding will be provided once a year, during the fall. The amount of funding provided to eligible faculty will depend upon the factors described in (B-2) and (B-3) immediately below.
  2. Funds will be provided in proportion to faculty members’ percentage of appointment in a faculty in the professor series or teaching professor title plus any additional academic title.
  3. Full-time faculty members will be credited with $2,000 for each semester of active service during the immediately preceding year, subject to the carry-forward provisions in (C-7) below.  For the purposes of this program, faculty members are regarded as being on active service status for a given semester unless they are on 100% leave without salary for that semester.
  4. Eligible faculty members will receive BEAR funding automatically. They do not need to fill out an application form.

C.  Expenditure of BEAR funding

  1. Faculty members may expend BEAR funds only when they are in active service.  For the purposes of this program, faculty members are regarded as being in active service for a given semester unless they are on 100% leave without salary for that semester.
  2. Faculty members may expend BEAR funds only for expenses incurred during periods of active service.  For the purposes of this program, faculty members are regarded as being on active service status for a given semester unless they are on 100% leave without salary for that semester.
  3. BEAR support is to be used by faculty members to advance their research.
  4. BEAR funds must be used in accordance with University policies.
  5. BEAR funds may not be used by faculty members to pay themselves summer salary or other compensation.
  6. Groups of faculty members may use their BEAR funding for a common research good (e.g., a major piece of scientific equipment). Groups of faculty members may pool their BEAR funding for a common research good, but BEAR funds may not be transferred from one faculty member to another or from one unit to another.
  7. Carry-forward of unused support is permitted up to a cap of $6,000; thus, the maximum that could be available to a faculty member at any one time would be $10,000 ($6,000 carried forward plus a new provision of $4,000). This provision refers to all BEAR funding (including under the previous 2014–16 program). Only encumbrances in Q4 (April 1 through June 30) will be taken into account when calculating the $6,000 carry-forward cap. 
  8. Examples of uses for BEAR support include, but are not limited to, the following: computers and other equipment; research-related travel; items for the University’s library collections or for a personal research library; graduate or undergraduate research assistants; the costs of bringing colleagues from another institution to Berkeley to participate in scholarly seminars, colloquia, or conferences.
  9. The BEAR program does not include a requirement that faculty members prepare reports on their expenditures.
  10. Faculty members may view their BEAR funds in PI Portfolio. 
  11. Any BEAR funds that remain unspent when a faculty member leaves the University, retires, or transitions to an ineligible title will be returned to the campus. 
  12. BEAR funds may not be in deficit at the end of the fiscal year, i.e., on June 30. If a negative balance exists, the faculty member will be asked by the fund administrator to identify a different fund to which excess charges can be moved.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR ADMINISTRATORS

Administrator Information

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). 

FAQs

Q1:  Would new faculty members whose appointments started July 1, 2022, receive BEAR funding in the fall of 2022?

A: No, but if they were in active service during all of 2022–23, they would receive funding of $4,000 in the fall of 2023, assuming they met the other eligibility criteria and the program continues.

Q2:  Would new faculty members be excuded from eligibility if their start-up funding for research is $10,000 per year or more?

A: Probably not, unless that funding is via an endowed chair or Chancellor Professorship. Of course, they must meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q3:  Am I on active service if I am on Active Service/Modified Duties status?

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q4:  Am I on active service if I am on sabbatical leave?

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q5:  Are investigators for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute on active service?

A:  No; HHMI investigators are on leave without salary.

Q6:  Are full-time administrators eligible for BEAR funding?

A: No; they are not regarded as being in active-service status as faculty members.

Q7:  I am a department chair; am I eligible for BEAR funding?

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q8:  Are faculty members on active status if they are on non-sabbatical leaves funded by the University (e.g., paid leaves in lieu of sabbatical, Humanities Research Fellowships, or medical leave)?

A:  Yes, assuming they meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q9:  During the spring 2022semester, I was partially supported by a University-funded leave and partially supported by an external fellowship.  Will I receive $2,000 for that semester?

A: Yes; as long as you were not 100% on leave without salary (and assuming you meet the other eligibility criteria), you will receive $2,000 for that semester.

Q10:  If I participate in the Faculty Salary Research Exchange Program to charge part of my salary to a research grant, will I receive $2,000 for that semester?

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other eligibility criteria.

Q11:  I am a faculty member in the Professor Series in the College of Natural Resources, and 30% of my appointment is as a Professor and 70% is as an Agronomist in the Agricultural Experiment Station. Am I eligible at 100% for BEAR funding, or just at 30%?

A:  Assuming you meet the other criteria, you are eligible at 100%, because your Agronomist appointment is an academic appointment that complements your faculty appointment.

Q12:  What about faculty members whose 100% employment is divided between a faculty in professor series/teaching professor title and another academic title (e.g., Researcher or Curator)?

A:  They are eligible at 100% (provided they meet the other criteria) because they have a faculty appointment plus an academic appointment that complements their faculty appointment.

Q13:  My faculty appointment is 50% in one department and 50% in another department. Am I fully eligible? 

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other criteria.

Q14:  Are emeriti eligible for BEAR funding?

A:  While emeriti are not eligible for this program, one-time replacement funding may be provided by special arrangement as part of a Pathway to Retirement Agreement. A separate program of research support exclusively for emeriti is administered by the UC Berkeley Retirement Center.

Q15:  Suppose I am in active service during 2022–23 and retire as of June 30, 2023; will I receive $4,000 in BEAR funding in the fall of 2023?

A: No, because BEAR funds can be expended by faculty members only when they are in active service. 

Q16:  I plan to retire as of January 1, 2023; will I receive $4,000 in the fall of 2022 for my active service during all of 2021–22?

A:  Yes, but you may spend those funds only before the time of your retirement.

Q17:  I am the principal investigator (PI) on a major training grant that provides more than $10,000 in funding, none of which goes to support my research directly; am I eligible for BEAR funding?

A:  Yes, assuming you meet the other criteria.