Guidelines for Candidate Meetings with Affinity Groups

2024-2025

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

As part of this commitment, each affinity group makes itself available to meet with faculty candidates during their interview process. The following protocols are to be followed by Departments, Programs, and Search Committees when facilitating these meetings:

Informing Candidates

  • Invitation: During the development of the interview itinerary, the Search Committee Chair and/or Department Program should offer all candidates the opportunity to request a meeting with UMBC Affinity Groups. When extending the invitation, departments should explain the following:
    1. These meetings are informal and voluntary, providing candidates with a change to learn more about the UMBC community.
    2. All information shared during these informal meetings are to be kept confidential and is not considered in the candidate’s evaluation process.

Scheduling a Meeting with Affinity Groups

  • Advance Notice Requirement: All candidate meeting requests must be submitted at least 2 weeks in advance of the candidate’s interview date. Given that candidate interview schedules are confirmed well in advance, departments should leverage this lead time to coordinate candidate meeting request efficiently.
  • Request Submission: Meeting requests should be submitted using the Affinity Group Meeting Request Form.
  • Meeting Options:
    • Virtual Meetings (Default): Virtual meetings are strongly encouraged and can be scheduled to occur within 3 business days after the candidate’s interview. This helps to avoid scheduling conflicts and ensures candidate-affinity group meetings remain a priority. The Search Committee Chair and/or the Department Program is responsible for coordinating these requests.
    • In-Person Meetings: In-person meetings may be arranged outside of formal interview schedule. However, these requests must also follow the 2-week advance notice. If an in-person meeting is not feasible, the meeting will default to a virtual format.

Questions should be directed to Amy Heffler (aheffler@umbc.edu) within the Office of Faculty Affairs.