Introduction: Middlebury College understands that a candidate for the Faculty and the spouse/partner of that candidate often seek employment simultaneously.  Like many liberal arts colleges in rural areas, this can pose a challenge.  Middlebury College seeks to respond to this challenge, to the extent it is able, by providing informational assistance to spouses and partners who seek employment.  One of the College's most important goals is to attract and to retain the very best faculty and staff, and spousal/partner employment is vital to realizing this goal.

Guidelines:  Middlebury College will try to facilitate spouse/partner employment in the following ways.  The Dean of the Faculty Office and the Human Resources Office will extend assistance to the spouses/partners of present or incoming faculty and staff seeking employment in the community.  A person that is a spouse/partner of a Middlebury College employee, or candidate for employment, shall be considered on an equal basis with all other applicants under the College's equal employment opportunity policies.

Although the College has a commitment to providing assistance to spouses/partners seeking employment, Middlebury College cannot guarantee employment for any individual.  Spousal/partner employment will be based upon the same principles pertaining to employment elsewhere at the College.

1) Middlebury will strive to attract and retain the best faculty and staff.
2) While doing so, Middlebury will also strive to increase the number of women and persons of color in its administration and on its faculty and staff.

In addition to providing spouses/partners information about internal and local employment opportunities, Middlebury College is an active member of the Academic Career Network and the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, regional ventures that seek to address dual-career problems in academic institutions.

Procedures:  When a department chair schedules a campus interview for a candidate for a position on the Middlebury faculty, he or she should inform the candidate that it is College policy to offer informational assistance through the Human Resources Office to a spouse or partner who is seeking employment. The Dean of the Faculty will provide the candidate with information about the Academic Career Network.  The candidate should be given the name, address, and phone number of the Liaison in Human Resources (Drew Macan, Associate Vice President for Human Resources and Organizational Development), as well as the Human Resources website, so that s/he can undertake a search of Middlebury College job openings.  The spouse/partner of a current Middlebury faculty member will be eligible to apply for Middlebury College Staff vacancies posted for internal candidates.  Contact the Human Resources department for more information.

When a candidate visits Middlebury to be considered for a staff or administrative position, or when the spouse/partner of a current staff employee seeks staff employment, the candidate or the applicant shall be informed about the list of employment openings at the College, and shall also be given an opportunity to discuss College/area employment opportunities with a member of the Human Resources office.

In dealing with issues of spousal/partner employment, the academic administration and other college offices can neither guarantee employment nor violate equal employment opportunity for all applicants.  The purpose of this policy and these procedures is to make certain that information about job opportunities is made as readily and fully available as possible to spouses/partners of current or prospective employees.

Resources:  The following resources provide information about local and regional employment opportunities.

• A list of open positions at Middlebury College is maintained by Human Resources, and can be found in the Human Resources Office section of Middlebury College’s Web Page: http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/business/hr/jobseeker.  Note that spouses/partners of current Middlebury faculty are eligible to apply for vacancies posted for internal candidates.
• Extensive information on employers in the region is also available through the Vermont Department of Labor at http://www.labor.vermont.gov/.
• The New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (www.newenglandherc.org) supports a higher education career website that provides one stop shopping for faculty and staff positions at member institutions.  The University of Vermont, Dartmouth, and Champlain College are among the 50 regional member institutions. 
• The Academic Career Network (https://www.fivecolleges.edu/acn) offers a number of faculty-oriented career support services, including a Web-based database of faculty partner profiles, a website that maintains links to academic and administrative positions at member institutions that is available exclusively to faculty partners, personalized notification of relevant career opportunities for registered partners; and career management and networking opportunities. Member institutions include Williams, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, UMass Amherst, Trinity, Connecticut, Vassar, Union, Skidmore, and Wesleyan.

rev. 11/12