The University of California, Riverside (UCR) is a global engine for social mobility, helping students from all backgrounds move into high-earning careers. Ranked in the top 1.3% of universities worldwide, UCR empowers over 25,000+ students and faculty in southern California to turn bold ideas into global solutions. However, even for a national leader in innovation, fragmented legacy technologies often created administrative friction, slowing essential processes like IT support and course scheduling. Operating with a leaner staffing model than its peers, UCR needed a way to maximize its workforce’s impact without sacrificing the high-touch, personal campus experience that defines its mission.

Matthew Gunkel, CIO of UCR, recognized a pivotal opportunity to transition from a reactive IT model to a proactive one. The goal was to address technical debt while reimagining the student journey. UCR partnered with Google Public Sector and deployed Gemini Enterprise to achieve full integration—from secure cloud infrastructure to user-facing Google Workspace tools. This ensures all data remains protected and FERPA-compliant while delivering an intuitive user experience.

UC Riverside implemented Gemini Enterprise to provide a unified portal for agent experiences across its entire campus community of 25,000 students, faculty, and staff. For the personnel driving the university's mission, the focus is on augmentation. By using Google AI as a force multiplier, the ITS team is transforming how the university operates:

1. Administrative Speed: Routine formatting and administrative tasks that once took multiple hours are now completed in just minutes using Gemini.
2. Content Creation: Staff leverage AI to generate initial drafts for emails and project updates, acting as “human project managers” who refine the output for accuracy and professionalism.
3. Student empowerment: The Schedule Recommender—a planned student-facing tool that will be built with Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform using BigQuery data to help plan upcoming term registrations and ease the stress associated with securing courses.
4. AI development for IT: The ITS team is leveraging Google AI to accelerate technical workflows—from generating baseline architecture diagrams to automating bug analysis—shifting the department’s focus from transactional maintenance toward proactive campus transformation.

Whether summarizing meeting minutes or outlining project requirements for student-facing services, the university is using AI to amplify their capacity and focus on the meaningful work that drives student success.

The partnership between UCR and Google Public Sector represents a strategic shift in how technology can be used to serve the academic mission. Looking ahead, over the next 18 months, UCR plans to further integrate Student Information Systems (SIS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to automate transactions and lower the high learning curve of legacy platforms.