Sunshine Recruitment

The Florida Sunshine Law provides a right of access to governmental proceedings at both the state and local levels. Virtually all state and local collegial public bodies are covered by the open meetings requirements, with the exception of the judiciary and the state Legislature which has its own constitutional provision relating to access. The Florida Sunshine Law is governed under Florida Statute 286, Public Business; Miscellaneous Provisions.

All Work Force staff, Director level and above, and Faculty, except Visiting, Adjunct, Instructor, Lecturer, and Postdoctoral Associates, recruitments must be conducted under the Florida Sunshine Law.

*If you choose to have a search committee, the recruitment will need to be in the Sunshine.
Note: OPS and Student searches are not required to have search committees.

BENEFITS OF A SUNSHINE RECRUITMENT

• The recruitment committee has the authority to screen applicants.
• The recruitment committee can determine which applicants to accept or reject from consideration.
• The recruitment committee can rank, rate, cull, and suggest applicants for hire.

IMPORTANT SUNSHINE RECRUITMENT INFORMATION

• All meetings must be open to the public.
• All meetings must be reasonably publicized at least seven days in advance on the UWF Public Meetings webpage.
• All decisions must be made publicly.
• Committee members cannot discuss or communicate outside of a publicly noticed meeting on any issue to be brought forward to the committee for decision.
• If two or more committee members will be present at any meeting, event, meal, forum, etc. and the candidate will be present, then the meeting, event, meal, forum, etc. must be publicly noticed at least seven days in advance on the UWF Public Meetings webpage. 
• Minutes must be taken at all search committee meetings and interviews.
• Recruitment committee members are responsible for taking minutes and submitting the 7-day public notice.  An administrative/clerical staff member does not need to be assigned to a Sunshine Recruitment.

HIRING OFFICIAL

• The Hiring Official is responsible for the integrity of the recruitment.
• The Hiring Official creates the search committee and designates the Search Committee Chair.
• The Hiring Official provides the charge to the search committee during the initial noticed search committee meeting.
• In a Sunshine Recruitment, the search committee plays an active role in candidate selection.   At the conclusion of the Sunshine Recruitment, the Hiring Official is the person responsible for making the hiring decision.

 SEARCH COMMITTEE FOR SUNSHINE RECRUITMENTS

• Composed of a minimum of three individuals.
• No requirement to the number of different races or ethnicities, as long as the committee members are not all the same gender, are not all the same race, and are not all the same ethnicity.
• An individual in the field of multicultural studies, diversity studies, or who is an employee in the Office of Diversity and Equity, or a similarly focused department, can be added to a search committee to provide race or ethnic diversity, even if that individual is not racially or ethnically different than the other members of the search committee.
• May include members of the hiring department or other departments, community members, or students who have relevant knowledge of the functions and requirements of the vacant position.
• An individual who serves on the search committee may not apply for the vacant position.

UWF Faculty ADVANCE and the STRIDE Task Force offer the following concise resources for conducting inclusive faculty searches. These resources are intended to assist administrators, department chairs, and search committees from the earliest stages of the search process through to the selection and hire of new faculty.

• Recruitment and Hiring for Faculty Diversity at UWF‌ - provides an overview of the search process from pre-search and recruitment activities, through applicant review, interview, and selection activities to post-search activities.
• Tips for Recruitment of a Qualified and Diverse Faculty Applicant Pool - provides ideas for strategies for recruitment that can be undertaken on an ongoing basis as well as those that may be undertaken prior to and during an active search.
• Advertising for Diversity in Faculty Search Ads‌‌ - offers required EEO language for faculty search ads and examples of language that may be included in search ads to convey the value of faculty diversity and inclusion and welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply for faculty positions. Examples may be adopted verbatim or adapted to suit departmental preferences.