Professional online profiles hold many advantages for faculty and staff, not the least of which is to showcase their credentials and accomplishments. MY1CV, the system used by Texas Woman’s, allows members to update their own profiles, and they don’t have to be a tech expert to use it, according to Jodi Woodside, manager of data systems for the university’s MY1CV program.

“Not everyone’s expertise is technology, but there should be no hesitation with using this system,” she said.

MY1CV uses Sedona as its CV and profile content management system. Sedona, a self-service web database application, allows members to maintain their teaching, research, experience and other information in a centralized database and update it as needed.

Workshops are held on the Denton, Dallas and Houston campuses for those who need help, though that changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Woodside currently conducts one-on-one sessions, which are set up to make it easier for faculty and staff to create their profiles.

“Most everyone feels comfortable making updates after a one-on-one session; it’s just getting started that is difficult,” Woodside said.

The university has seen an increase year after year with faculty using the system. In fact, more than 200 profiles currently online have been populated from the Sedona system.

Faculty have three different profile templates from which to choose — research, creative arts, and teaching. A template also has been created for staff.

The profiles are easily searchable online, increasing faculty visibility in positive ways:

• Students who want to learn more about the faculty in their discipline can learn about faculty achievements and research agendas, which has the potential to increase graduate recruitment.
• Potential collaborators can easily find faculty with similar research interests through a keyword or key-phrase search.
• Community members can search for specific information on research and projects occurring at the university, which may increase donor knowledge of faculty works.

Some faculty already are being contacted as the result of their online profile.

Lynette Grange-Maasoumi, assistant clinical professor of nursing on TWU’s Dallas campus, said that after putting her profile online, she received many emails from international and national universities and professional nursing organizations asking her to present at their conferences or seeking more information about her research projects.

“There was even an email request from (a Houston law firm) to review their perinatal case in a hospital lawsuit,” Grange-Maasoumi said. “That was a first for me!”

Though most of the conferences were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and time constraints prevented her from assisting the law firm, Grange-Maasoumi said many things changed professionally for her as a result of her online profile.

Staff profiles are specific to each college and contain contact, education and biographical information for each staff member who creates a profile. A staff profile might take five to 10  minutes to create for those who have their headshot and biography available.

Woodside also has worked closely with TWU librarians over the past year to form a partnership between the My1CV program and the Repository@TWU, a collection of scholarly works of TWU faculty and students that is available worldwide through open access. When a faculty member enters a publication into the Sedona system, library personnel can reach out to that faculty member and ask to house the publication in the repository, which creates an opportunity for increased citations of their work.

For more information about the program, visit MY1CV or email MY1CV@twu.edu.