UC Berkeley staffer Steve Garber will begin a one-year term as chair of the Council of University of California Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) on July 1. CUCSA was founded in 1974 to provide a platform for non-represented staff to communicate with UC decision-makers on important systemwide issues. Garber, who works as an administrative manager in the Educational Technology Services unit, joined the campus in 2001 as operations manager for MBA admissions at the Haas School of Business. His campus career also includes managerial stints in Human Resources and the Office of the Chancellor. Garber spoke with the NewsCenter about the staff organization, its advocacy efforts and his new role as chair.
Q: What is the Council of University of California Staff Assemblies?
A: CUCSA is the voice of non-represented staff across the UC system, working in concert with the president and administrators to create programs that improve the working conditions, careers and lives of UC staff. Each campus in the UC system has its own staff assembly or association — here, it’s the Berkeley Staff Assembly — to promote the interests of staff at the campus level and to provide career development and networking opportunities.
CUCSA focuses on staff issues at the systemwide level and brings together two delegates from each of the 10 campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Office of the President. We meet on a quarterly basis with UC President Mark Yudof to discuss issues, provide guidance and present recommendations that bring a valuable staff perspective to the table on issues of policy and practice that impact non-represented employees.
We have several issue-specific working groups that develop recommendations in different areas each year. This year, one group is concentrating on the demographics of non-represented staff and distributions across race, age and gender.
Another working group is looking at what’s happening with the retirement bubble and how that’s going to impact staff. We’re also evaluating what happens to staff as they move through their careers to see whether we can map a typical career progression. If we can’t figure out answers, we look at what data isn’t being collected and develop recommendations to address that.
Q: Why did you become involved with CUCSA?
A: The time I spent working in human resources exposed me to a whole range of issues that affect staff and their families. Now, working through the staff assemblies, I honestly feel like I’m influencing policies and issues that are important to staff and impacting their lives in a positive way. Talent management is a particularly important topic for me. Throughout my professional career, I’ve always been self-directed in looking for opportunities to learn and grow. I believe everybody deserves opportunities to develop in the workplace, and while I agree that you need to own your own career, often we need help and guidance to get started. From my perspective, the university has a responsibility to support staff access to development opportunities.
Q: As incoming chair of CUCSA, what’s the most pressing challenge you face from an organizational standpoint?
A: Our level of recognition among staff has certainly been an issue. In the past, CUCSA focused more on working with the administration than the local assemblies and, as an organization, we haven’t been very good at getting our name out there. Now we’re engaging more with individual assemblies to provide support on specific issues and working to raise our profile among staff at the campus level. We need to make people more aware of who we are and what we do and then convince them of the importance of the organization in order to get them involved.
CUCSA on Campus: June 6-8
UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab will host CUCSA’s next quarterly meeting, beginning Wednesday. Day 2 at Boalt Hall includes a series of presentations (Operational Excellence; UC Regent Frederick Ruiz; education benefits and demographics) that are open to campus staff. For more information, visit the Berkeley Staff Assembly website.
Q: How do you propose to do that?
A: One of the ways you do that is by highlighting our accomplishments. In January, for example, UC launched a new systemwide job-search website that allows staff to search and apply for open positions across all locations. That came out of a CUCSA recommendation to UCOP outlining the need for a centralized search resource.
In the same area, it came to our attention that not all campuses offer career-counseling services for staff. So we’re working with UCOP to implement a new systemwide program that will complement existing campus services. In the area of educational benefits, we’re assessing staff utilization of the tuition-remission program. We’re also developing recommendations for a reduced-tuition program for dependents of UC faculty and staff like that offered by California State University.
At the same time, we need to do a better job of getting the word out there about when we’re coming to the different campuses for our quarterly meetings as well as letting people know who their delegates are, because if you have something to say, they are the ones who can to give voice to that message.
Q: When it comes to more pressing policies and practices, what impact can an advisory body like CUCSA have on decision-making?
A: Ultimately, we don’t have control when it comes to decision-making, but just being part of the conversation can influence outcomes. President Yudof has demonstrated that he respects our opinion as a highly professional staff organization and values our input. If we have something to say, we say it. We put forward as strong an argument as we can, but we are non-confrontational and strive to work with the administration in achieving our goals.
– Steve Garber, incoming CUCSA chair