This is a guide for making a staff or faculty profile. It covers what type of information should be used in the different fields in the people tool. We cover both specifics of how our People Tool works, but also the type of information we’re looking for in a faculty profile. You’ll find explanations of what the fields should be used for (“purpose”), guidelines on how that information should be set up (“guidelines”), and explanations of why it should be set up in that way (“why”).
Categories Fed Automatically
These options are filled from the U’s main system, currently MyU. While you can change your name and credentials, the rest are filled automatically from records of your UMN ID, or phone number.
- Name
- Credentials
- Address
- Phone
Profile Picture
Purpose: Picture of faculty member
Guidelines:
- Professional photo
- Taken within the last 5 years
- Should be a headshot
Why: So audiences (students, faculty, staff, non-UMN people) know what the faculty member looks like now (as opposed to 20 years ago, etc.) and is able to identify them at events
Title
Purpose: A faculty member’s professional title
Guidelines:
- Appointments and titles at the UMN only
- Faculty appointment titles should be appropriate to actual appointment (e.g. Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Regents’ Professor)
- Honorary appointments (The Bob Sled Chair for Bobsledding)
- Director positions (e.g. “Director of Center for Things and Stuff.”)
Why: Designate level of appointment and role within department/center, college, and university
Areas of Interest
Purpose: List of research areas faculty member is involved in
Guidelines:
- Under 20 words
- Format as list, not in paragraphs
Why: Scannable list of words/short phrases that summarize faculty areas of interest/research/expertise
Degrees
Purpose: List of academic degrees
Guidelines:
- At least terminal degree (highest degree completed; some fields have a master’s degree as the terminal degree, most have doctoral degrees)
- Preferably all degrees (including bachelor’s degrees)
Why: Give list of academic history, relations to past schools. This is not a list of past institutions of employment.
Office Hours
Purpose: Office hours for students
Guidelines:
- Current term only. If the hours listed are not for the current term, the section should not be included.
Why: This is not a required section; many instructors only want currently enrolled students to know their office hours, and include it on class syllabi.
CV
Purpose: A link to their CV
Guidelines:
- From within the last year
- Take out private data (home phone, address, SSN)
Why: The CV is available at the faculty member’s discretion as a record of their full academic publishing and activities, it is not mandatory. A link to the CV may be inserted after the maximum of Publications & Presentations are reached in the profile.
Brief Bio
Purpose: A brief description meant for pages with multiple profiles
Guidelines:
- 75 words or less
Why: These bios are intended for very brief use. They are frequently found on pages where multiple people are listed, such as “who are the faculty in this center”. The word limit is necessary to make sure those pages aren’t incredibly long. These sites can include links to full bios, so a longer bio isn’t really necessary.
Full Bio
Purpose: A longer biography meant for a profile page
Guidelines:
- Don’t repeat other info
- Free form (related to teaching/scholarship/research)
- Approximately 250 words
Why: This is the area where faculty can feel free to express more about their unique research area, and include material that best explains their research area and why it’s important. The word limit is a guideline to try and keep the profiles readable on mobile devices.
Selected Publications/Presentations
Purpose: List of publications/presentations
Guidelines:
- Recent publications are preferable
- Aim for 10 items, but no more than 20 total in each category (publications/presentations)
- Use CV for more information/breakdown
Why: This is meant to give students, colleagues, and the public an overview of the researcher’s work and studies. CVs may be made available for full lists if the faculty/staff member wishes to highlight more than 20 works.