Hiring Support Personnel

Graduate Assistants: Graduate Assistants (GAs) are, first and foremost, graduate students pursuing an education. The opportunity to work closely with faculty members and undergraduate students in teaching, research, or administrative environments is an integral part of that education.

To hire a Graduate Assistant, complete the CBMG Graduate Assistant Appointment Form and submit the completed form to your CBMG Business Manager for Research Assistants.

Hourly Student Workers: To hire an hourly student worker, complete the CBMG Hourly Student Appointment Form.

• If you are a faculty member hiring a student to assist with research, submit the form to your CBMG Business Manager.
• If you are a staff member hiring a student to assist with an administrative task or work as a Grader, submit the form to CBMG Business Manager.

Post-Docs: A postdoctoral (Post-Doc) appointment is a temporary one designed to give individuals an opportunity to conduct research under the guidance of a faculty mentor and to prepare for careers in higher education, government, industry, and other sectors of the economy. For many, Post-Doc work is a critical step in securing future employment.

An individual with a Post-Doc appointment at UMD:

• Will pursue a full-time program of advanced training and research under the direction of a faculty member with an appointment in an academic department or organized research unit;
• Will be supported by campus research grants or contracts, fellowships administered by the campus, or other external sources;
• Has been awarded a doctoral degree or equivalent within the past five years;
• Has not had more than five years of postdoctoral experience at UMD or other institutions; and
• Has not held a tenure-track professorial appointment (i.e., assistant professor, associate professor, or professor)

To hire a Post-Doc you will need to complete the CBMG Post-Doc/Research Faculty Request form–PDF and submit it directly to your Business Manager. Keep in mind that all faculty appointments, including Post-Docs, require CBMG APT approval.

To hire Non-Entry Level Postdocs/Researchers/Instructors, etc - Contact Errica Philpott. The CBMG AEP (Appointment, Evaluation, Promotion) process takes 2 weeks to complete.

Research Faculty Appointments: There are several Professional-Track Faculty (PTK) titles that are available for use to hire a non-tenure track faculty member to work on specified research projects. The titles mainly used in CBMG are:

• Faculty Assistant
• Faculty Specialist OR Senior/Principal Faculty Specialist
• Assistant/Associate/Full Research Professor
• Assistant/Associate/Full Research Scientist

To hire a research faculty member using one of these titles, you should first draft a job description identifying what this individual will be doing and send it to your Business Manager to start the process. Your Business Manager will work with you to determine the most appropriate title and facilitate the recruitment and hiring. Keep in mind that all faculty appointments, including Post-Docs, require CBMG APT approval.

Summer Appointments

Faculty and Graduate Assistants on 9 or 9.5-month appointments are eligible to receive summer appointments. There are two types of summer appointments available:

1. Summer Pay – used to compensate a faculty member for administrative work completed in the summer. The maximum amount of summer pay a faculty member can earn over the 3-month summer period is 30% of their 9-month salary (10% per month). Summer pay cannot be charged to grant or contract accounts.
2. Summer Research – used to compensate a faculty member or Graduate Assistant for research conducted in the summer. The maximum amount of summer research that can be earned over the 3-month summer period is 33.3% of an individuals 9/9.5-month salary (11.1% per month). Summer research is usually paid from a sponsored grant or contract account. Summer research paid from non-sponsored funds (i.e. startup funds, retention funds, other College or University funds), require that the faculty member submit a research plan electronically at: https://faculty.umd.edu/summer/. All plans must be approved by the Dean or Dean’s delegate. The faculty member will also be required to submit a brief report in this system prior to August 30th detailing what they accomplished over the summer. PLEASE NOTE: Projects funded by NSF have a summer research max of 2-months (22.22%) over all NSF projects. Exceptions to this rule requires written permission from the NSF program officer funding the project.

Setting Up Summer Appointments

Faculty: Summer appointments are processed starting in May. An email will go out to all faculty in the first week of May to collect summer work plans for the year. Faculty should work with their Business Managers to identify summer salary funding sources.

Graduate Assistants (GA): Faculty requesting summer appointments for graduate students should complete the CBMG Graduate Assistant Appointment Form and submit this to their Business Manager. Please keep in mind that current Graduate Assistants on 9.5-month appointments will not be paid in the summer without a unique Summer Appointment.

Additional Notes on GA Summer Appointments

• GAs can receive summer salary for appointments at 10 hours/week or 20 hours/week.
• 10-hour/week GAs are eligible for a total of 4 credits of tuition remission during all summer sessions.
• 20-hour/week GAs are eligible for a total of 8 credits of tuition remission during all summer sessions.

Other Resources

Tuition Remission: Eligibility information

• Faculty/Staff and Dependents On Campus: Application for tuition remission is completed online. An electronic form called “TR-ELF” is available on the ARES website, by selecting ELF (instructions on how to complete the electronic form).
• Faculty/Staff and Dependents at Other USM Institutions: If you or your dependent are taking classes at a USM campus other than College Park, please submit the paper tuition remission form to the Human Resources Office in 1117C Patuxent Building. Requests are made prior to the semester you are taking classes; they must be completed each semester.
• Graduate Assistants: Tuition remission for graduate assistants will be processed automatically. Additional information regarding tuition remission can be found on the UHR Benefits Website.

Parental Leave

• Detailed information about faculty and staff parental leave
• UMD Policy on Staff Parental Leave and Other Family Support

Family and Medical Leave (FML)

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law designed to help employees balance the demands of the workplace and the needs of their families by allowing for unpaid job and benefits protected leave for certain family and medical reasons.

• Detailed information about staff FML procedures
• Detailed information about faculty FML procedures

Employee Grievances

Job-related grievances can be directed to your supervisor or the CMNS Staff Relations Partner.

University Staff Relations is also available to provide advice and assistance to employees, administrators, managers and supervisors on a variety of employee relations issues. Please contact the CMNS Staff Relations Partner.

Exclusive Bargaining Agent

AFSCME Local 1072 - UMD College Park and UMGC