Equal Opportunity Search Information
The University of Maine strives to be a first choice institution for highly qualified and diverse students, employees, and faculty. (The University of Maine Strategic Plan 2006-2011.) That goal includes attracting and retaining highly qualified and diverse research and teaching faculty and highly qualified and diverse employees who provide student centered and effective learning experiences and services. (Id.)
The Office of Equal Opportunity (EO) strives to assist the University meet these goals both through implementation of the University’s Affirmative Action Plan and through commitment to the University’s nondiscrimination policy. To that end, we work with hiring units to ensure that the University is in compliance with its nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations.
Recruitment
For professional and faculty positions, the hiring unit must complete a Recruitment Strategy Form. This form, among other things, identifies the search committee members and describes the recruitment efforts that will be undertaken. When filling positions for which there are goals for increasing the number of women and minorities, recruitment specifically targeted toward these populations must be identified.
If you need assistance in locating appropriate recruitment resources, please do not hesitate to contact Karen Kemble (581-1226 or karen.kemble@maine.edu) for administrators and tenure-track faculty or Bonita Grindle (581-1227 or bgrindle@maine.edu) for professional and non-tenure-track faculty. You may also find some helpful resources at Recruiting Resources
The recruitment strategy form will be submitted to Human Resources with the other paperwork required to initiate a search. This package will be routed through the Office of Equal Opportunity for appropriate approval.
Position Announcement
Equal Opportunity will also review your position announcement to be sure that it is in conformity with our nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations.
One requirement for all position announcements is that they contain a notice identifying the University as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. This may be accomplished by simply adding a sentence to the announcement that states: “The University of Maine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.” For other suggested statements, please see Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Statements.
Briefing
For all professional and faculty searches, the search chair must meet with Office of Equal Opportunity staff to be updated on equal opportunity and affirmative action issues that pertain to the search being conducted. This meeting must occur before the committee meets to review applications for the position. Please contact Ellen Manzo (581-1226 or ellen.manzo@maine.edu) to schedule a briefing.
Applicant Log
As part of its affirmative action obligations, the Office of Equal Opportunity reaches out to applicants to allow them to self-identify their race/ethnicity and gender. No specific information about a candidate is shared with the search committee. Rather, this information helps us to assess the success of our outreach efforts.
For hourly positions, applicants may opt to do this by completing a separate page of the application that is then supplied to the Office of Equal Opportunity.
For professional and faculty positions, the Office must contact applicants to give them an opportunity to provide this information. In order to facilitate this process, the hiring department must submit an applicant log to the Office of Equal Opportunity. This log can be found at (additional resources coming soon) and can be submitted electronically. This must be done before the Committee begins to review applications. The log must be updated if additional applications are received and reviewed. Please contact Ellen Manzo (581-1226 or ellen.manzo@maine.edu) if you have questions or need assistance filling out this form.
Search Summary Form
At the conclusion of the process, a Search Summary Form must be submitted to the Office of Equal Opportunity. This information may be submitted electronically. This form asks for the gender of all candidates (to the extent it can be determined from the application materials) and both the gender and race/ethnicity (minority vs. non-minority) of the finalists (those interviewed) based on the application materials, visual observations of and other interactions with those finalists. No applicant should be asked about his or her race/ethnicity or gender. If the information is unknown, this may be indicated. The information is used to supplement that provided by applicants themselves.
Complaints/Concerns
If an applicant raises a concern about how he or she was treated during the application process or the outcome of the search, please call us.
If you have any questions about either the forms required or the process, please contact:
Karen Kemble (581-1226 or karen.kemble@maine.edu)
for administrators and tenure-track faculty; or
Bonita Grindle (581-1227 or bgrindle@maine.edu)
for professional and non-tenure-track faculty.