Guidelines for Candidate Meetings with Affinity Groups

2023-2024

Our UMBC community supports a range of faculty affinity groups dedicated to improving the recruitment, visibility, and retention of diverse faculty and staff, and providing professional development, mentoring, and support to help them find success at UMBC.

As part of this commitment, each group has made themselves available to meet with faculty candidates during their interview process. Below are protocols for Departments/Programs/and Search Committees to follow when facilitating these connections.

How to share information about UMBC’s affinity groups with candidates:

  • As part of the development of the interview itinerary, the search committee chair should offer all candidates an opportunity to request a meeting with the UMBC Affinity Groups. When extending this invitation, the Department/Program/Search Committee Chair should explain the following:
    • Our UMBC community supports a range of faculty affinity groups dedicated to improving the recruitment, visibility, and retention of diverse faculty and staff, and providing professional development, mentoring, and support to help them find success at UMBC.
    • As part of this commitment, each group has made themselves available to meet with faculty candidates during their interview process.
    • These meetings are informal and voluntary on the part of the candidate as a part of their interview process. If a candidate expresses interest in a meeting with any affinity group(s) during their interview process, the department should make every effort to honor this request.
    • Information shared during meetings with affinity groups is confidential and no information is shared with the search committee nor is it considered in the search committee’s evaluation process.
    • The Department/Program/Search Committee is responsible for arranging and managing the logistics for candidate meetings.

To schedule a meeting:

  • Please submit all interview requests using this Affinity Group Meeting Request Form. Meetings should be requested one week ahead to guarantee time for scheduling.
  • The Search Committee Chair/Department Program is responsible for handling all the logistics for candidate meetings with faculty groups.
  • Questions should be directed to Amy Heffler (aheffler@umbc.edu)