WordPress: How to Create a Person Listing in the Directories Subsite

The directory is part of a shared subsite within the University of Southern Maine's public website. All WordPress users from USM have access. Learn how to create a Person Listing from start to finish.

The directory is part of a shared subsite within the University of Southern Maine's public website . All WordPress users from USM have access. Learn how to create a Person Listing from start to finish.

Definitions

• People listing: Profiles for individual staff and faculty members
• Department listing: Profiles for individual departments, colleges, schools, offices, centers, etc.
• FSE: Full site editing environment in WordPress
• Greeked text: Nonsense text that often includes "lorem ipsum" or other Latin words as a placeholder; read the Wikipedia entry 
• Media Library: Select images or files previously uploaded to the Directories subsite
• Placeholder: Text or images used to hold space and provide an example of the ideal word or character count
• Plain text field: Added text cannot be formatted in any way
• Rich text field: Added text can be formatted as bold, italic, a bulleted or numbered list, a hyperlink, etc.
• SMS: Short Message Service; a way to send a text message limited to 160 characters over cellular networks with or without a phone
  • For example, the Office of Admissions has texting capabilities from a web application
• Taxonomy field: Select from an existing library of pre-approved options (unapproved terms will be deleted)
  • To request an addition for any taxonomy field, submit a Website Service Request  and select “Taxonomy recommendation” as the request type; USM Marketing reserves the right to deny requests
  • Parent taxonomy: Top-level terms that are more generalized
  • Child taxonomy: Second-tier or lower terms that are more specific parts of their parent

How-to

What do you need help with?

Click on the image thumbnail to see a full-sized version of a completed Person Listing in detail view, marked with the corresponding steps in this how-to article.

1. Log in to WordPress 
2. View all directory listings 
3. Search for the person you want to add or update 
4. Add a new listing 
5. Update required fields 
   • First and last name 
   • Job title 
   • Email 
   • Assign a person to department subsite “People” pages 
6. Update the biography and featured image fields 
   • Bio (optional) 
   • Featured image 
   • Default image 
   • Replace image 
7. Update recommended taxonomy fields (optional) 
   • Buildings 
   • Current courses 
   • Designations (university roles) 
     • Available university roles
   • Expertise 
   • Locations (campuses) 
     • Available locations
   • Sports 
   • Territories/specialties 
8. Update the “Pronouns” field (optional) 
9. Update the phone fields (optional) 
   • Primary telephone 
   • Secondary telephone 
   • Text/SMS number 
10. Update the “Office Hours” field (optional) 
11. Update the external link fields (optional) 
    • External link 
    • Booking link 
    • Secondary booking link 
12. Add a curriculum vitae or résumé (optional) 
    • Remove a CV or résumé 
13. Add publications (optional) 
14. Add education (optional) 
15. Add links to news articles or other media (optional) 
16. Publish and review your Person Listing 
17. Celebrate 

Detailed information

Step 1: Log in to WordPress

Begin by logging into WordPress  with your maine.edu credentials. Use the "My Sites" menu in the upper left corner of your screen to navigate to the Directories "Dashboard".

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Step 2: View all directory listings

From the Directories Dashboard, click on the "UMS Directory" menu item in the left-hand sidebar. This will take you to a page with all listings, including people and departments. These are not separated the way they were in our previous directory tool (2022-2026).

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Step 3: Search for the person you want to add or update

Before starting a new Person Listing, make sure that the person you want to add isn’t already in the directory. We don't want any duplicates.

In the search box, enter the name of the person you want to find and either hit the “Enter” key on your keyboard or click the “Search Listings” button. Sometimes it’s best to search only part of the name in case it wasn’t entered exactly the same as your query.

In the pictured example, we’re looking for “Asa Fell” (who is a fictional person for this exercise, not a real employee).

If the person does not exist

If your search results come up empty, you can create a new Person Listing. Skip to step 4 .

If the person does exist

If your search results include the person you want to add, update the existing listing instead. Skip to step 5 .

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Step 4: Add a new listing

Click on the “Add new listing” button at the top of your screen.

On the next screen, select “Person” as the “directory listing type” you want to create.

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Step 5: Update required fields

In order to create a new Person Listing, five (5) fields are required, which are indicated by an asterisk and highlighted in red:

• First name 
• Last name
• Job title 
• Email 
• Related departments 

The “Add title” field at the top of the page will be automatically populated by what you enter into the “first name” and “last name” fields. This also contributes to the URL for the final Person Listing.

First and last name

Enter the person’s first and last name in the respective fields. The red highlight will go away.

If your person uses a nickname, include that in the first name field — either instead of their official first name or after it in quotes.

Job title

Enter the person’s job title into the text field. The red highlight will go away.

If the person has more than one job title, click the “Add job title” button to add additional text fields. Each job title needs its own field.

To delete a text field, click on the trash can icon to the right of the field.

Email

Enter one email address in this field. The red highlight will go away.

The email address will become a link on the front end of the website after the listing is published.

Related departments: Assign a person to department "People" pages

To assign this person to one or more departments, scroll to the bottom of the page — “Related departments” is the last field. Departments, colleges, schools, offices, centers, etc. are all considered “departments” in the directory.

Click on the “Select button” to search for departments. A small selection of alphabetized department listings will be visible. 

Type in the search field to narrow down your options, then select the department(s) your person belongs to. 

Select as many departments as you need to before clicking the “Save selections” button. You can always update this field later to add or remove departments.

You can add or remove selected departments at any time by clicking the “Change” button.

We recommend completing step 6  next, but if this is all the information you want to add to a Person Listing, skip to step 16 .

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Step 6: Update the biography and featured image fields (optional)

 To access the featured image field, open the Settings panel, click the icon of a box with a vertical line 2/3 of the way from the edge, and make sure the “UMS Directory Listing” tab is selected. 

Bio (optional)

Write about accomplishments, teaching styles, expertise, research, a brief history, or anything else important to share with the world that doesn't have a dedicated field.

Underneath the Listing title at the top of the page (the title displays the person’s full name), click on the words “Add Bio…” to get a blinking cursor. Then, copy and paste a pre-written biography into the rich text field. 

It’s okay to leave this field blank.

In the pictured example, we used Greeked text as a placeholder to represent a bio.

Featured image

If you haven’t prepared a featured image yet, do that now and upload it to the Media Library. Use JPG, WEBP, or PNG format.

If there isn’t a headshot available, use the default image . You can always change this later.

Select an image by clicking on the “Set featured image” button at the top of the Settings panel to launch the Media Library.

If you’re selecting an image you just uploaded, it should be in the first row.

If you’re looking for an image that was uploaded a while ago, use the search box (if you know the image file name) or the “Filter by media categories” dropdown to select your department, if the image was assigned correctly when it was uploaded. 

If you don’t know the file name and the image wasn’t assigned to the correct media category, you will need to click the “Load more” button at the bottom of the image grid until you find the image you need.

Select your image and make sure there’s a description in the “alt text” field. If the field is blank, add a description now. Alt text is a digital accessibility requirement.

Click the “Set featured image” button at the bottom to return to the edit screen.

Use the default image for the Featured image

To use the default image in lieu of a headshot, click on the “Set featured image” button at the top of the Settings panel to launch the Media Library.

Click on the “Filter by Media Categories” dropdown field and select “Default images”.

Click on the image of the logo column in white on a gray background to select it. 

Click the “Set featured image” button at the bottom to return to the edit screen.

Replace an image

If you haven’t done so already, upload your featured image to the Media Library. Use JPG, WEBP, or PNG format.

Open the Settings panel on the right-hand side of your screen and hover your mouse over the existing image to reveal two buttons:

• Click the “Replace” button to open the Media Library directly 
• Click the “Remove” button to clear the image and then click “Set featured image” button to open the Media Library

Follow the instructions above to add the new image .

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Step 7: Update recommended taxonomy fields (optional)

 To access the taxonomy fields, open the Settings panel, click the icon of a box with a vertical line 2/3 of the way from the edge, and make sure the “UMS Directory Listing” tab is selected. 

Taxonomy fields that are highly encouraged, but not required, include the following:

• Buildings 
• Current courses 
• Designations (university roles) 
• Expertise 
• Locations (campuses) 
• Sports 
• Territories/specialties 

Buildings

Click on the “Buildings” accordion to expand it, if needed.

Start typing in the search field to locate the building where this person has an office. You can select more than one building for people who have a presence on more than one campus.

You have the option to select only the building, or the room number within the building, depending on how much information the person wants to provide on this public profile. Room numbers are child taxonomies below the building name parents. 

If you select a child building with a room number, don’t select its parent, or both the parent building and the child building with room number will display on the front end of the website, which will look like a mistake.

Current courses

November 2026: The library of terms for the "Current courses" taxonomy must be standardized before anyone can request new additions.

Designations (university roles)

Click on the “Designations” accordion to expand it, if needed.

Use this field to assign a staff, faculty, or head of department university role to this person. Scroll through the list or start typing in the search box to narrow down the available roles. 

If you select a child taxonomy role, don’t select its parent, or both will display on the front end of the website, which will look like a mistake. You can select more than one role if applicable (e.g., “Head of department” and “Faculty”).

There are a few exceptions when you will want to select a child and a parent taxonomy, such as “Faculty advisor” and “Faculty” or “University leadership” and “Staff”.

Available university roles

• Head of department
  • Dean
  • Department chair
• Faculty
  • Faculty advisor
  • Faculty emeriti
  • Faculty (adjunct)
  • Faculty (part-time)
  • Faculty (online)
• Staff
  • Staff (part-time)
  • Undergraduate admissions counselor
  • Graduate admissions counselor
  • Transfer admissions counselor
  • University leadership
  • Intern

Expertise

November 2026: The library of terms for the "Expertise" taxonomy must be populated and standardized before anyone can request new additions.

Locations (campuses)

Click on the “Locations” accordion to expand it, if needed.

Use this field to assign a campus or remote location to a person. You can select more than one location for people with a presence on multiple campuses.

Available locations

• Gorham campus
• Portland campus
• Lewiston-Auburn campus
• Remote

Sports

This field is for the Department of Athletics use only.

Territories/specialties

This field is for the Office of Admissions and Student Financial Services only.

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Step 8: Update the “Pronouns” field (optional)

As of 2026, pronouns have their own field! (In the old 2022 tool, pronouns were forced into the “Job title” field.)

Enter the person’s preferred pronouns in lowercase letters, separated by pipes (shift + \ on a typical keyboard).

Example pronouns

This is not an extensive list, but a sampling of the most used pronouns in our directory.

• they | them | theirs
• she | her | hers
• he | him | his
• she | they
• all or any

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Step 9: Update the phone fields (optional)

University of Southern Maine brand guidelines  state that the format for phone numbers should be 10 digits, separated with dashes in the appropriate places, with no parentheses around the area code: e.g., 207-780-5670.

Several phone-related fields are available, including a new text/SMS number field.

• Primary phone number 
• Secondary phone number 
• Text/SMS number 

Primary telephone

Enter the best phone number to reach this person in this field, whether it’s their office phone, a cell phone, or the general department phone number.

Secondary telephone

If there’s an additional way to contact this person when the primary option doesn’t work, you can include that here. For example, this would be a good place to include a generic department number if the person is not available and this is the next logical step someone might take to get in touch.

Leave this field blank if there isn’t a need for an additional phone number.

Text/SMS number

As of 2026, we have a dedicated field for a text or SMS number. Admissions counselors each have a dedicated texting number, which now has a dedicated field.

If a person (often a faculty member) prefers to be contacted only via text, then don’t include a phone number in the fields above.

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Step 10: Update the “Office Hours” field (optional)

As of 2026, office hours have their own field! (In the old 2022 tool, office hours were added to the “Address” or “Bio” field.)

Review the University of Southern Maine brand guidelines  to make sure you’re using the proper format for days of the week, hours, and dashes.

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Step 11: Update the external link fields (optional)

There are three options for linking to a third-party website:

• External link 
• Booking link 
• Secondary booking link 

Use hyperlink best practices  when writing text for these external links. Precise, concise, and descriptive link text benefits accessibility, usability, and SEO.

• Describe the link destination so users know what to expect
• Keep it short to get the purpose of the link across as quickly as possible
• Phrases like “click here” and “learn more” don’t provide any context for screen readers
• Don’t use the URL as the link text (screen readers read individual letters and symbols aloud)

External link

If the person has a personal website, add that link here instead of buried within their bio.

Booking link

Admissions counselors and advisors use Calendly to book meetings with students. Other departments may also use Calendly or a different application. 

Secondary booking link

The "non-student" part of this field's title is irrelevant to its actual purpose.

If a person has more than one link to book an appointment, use this field and make sure the link text for both booking link fields clearly identifies the difference.

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Step 12: Add a curriculum vitae or résumé (optional)

If the person has a résumé or curriculum vitae (CV) they want to include on their profile listing, you must first upload it to the Media Library. Follow the same steps as you would to upload an image to upload a digitally accessible PDF or Word document and assign it to the appropriate department.

Once the file has been uploaded to the Media Library, return to the Person Listing edit screen and click the “Select/upload file” button. 

If the file you’re looking for was uploaded at a previous time, you can filter out just the documents by clicking the “All media items” dropdown and selecting “Documents”. This will narrow down the results to all Word and PDF files

Select the file you need and then click the blue “Select file” button at the bottom of your screen.

In the pictured example, the first available document was selected to illustrate the process. Make sure to select the file for the correct person whose profile listing you are creating or editing.

The text that displays on the front end is the same for everyone: “Download CV/résumé”.

Remove a CV or résumé

If you want to remove or replace a file, there is a set of 3 icons on the right side of your screen. Click the “x” in a circle to remove the selected file, then click the “Select/upload file” button to select a new file .

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Step 13: Add publications (optional)

People with published works can include them in the “Publications” and “Additional publications” fields. 

Try to limit the number of published works in the “Publications” field to the top 3-5, and add all additional works to the “Additional publications” field, which is hidden behind an accordion on the front end of the website.

These are both rich text fields, so you can use bold and italic formatting and add hyperlinks if needed.

When you copy and paste text into the rich text fields, use the “Paste and match style” option. Or, once you paste in the text, highlight everything and click on the “clear formatting” icon (a capital T with a subscript x) to remove any hidden code that may affect the display on the front end. It will also remove any bold or italic text, so make sure to add that back in where it’s needed.

In the pictured example, we borrowed some publications from an existing profile.

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Step 14: Add education (optional)

Many people have several degrees and credentials. Each degree should have its own text field and use the following format: degree abbreviation (no periods ), subject, school name. Including the year is optional; append that at the end, following a comma. 

Review the following example:

Credentials can be combined in one text field if there aren't many additional details. If you choose the combined approach, type “Credentials:” (without the quotes) into the field before listing the credentials. 

Review the following example:

To add a text field, click on the “Add educational credential/institution” button. Click the button again to add more text fields as needed.

To delete a text field, click on the trash can icon to the right of the field.

The pictured example shows a Master’s degree and multiple certifications in one field.

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Step 15: Add links to news articles or other media (optional)

To add a media link, click the “Add media link” button. Click the button again to add more items as needed.

Use the article or publication name for the label and paste the URL in the link field. On the front end, these entries will appear as hyperlinks.

To delete an item, click on the trash can icon to the right of the link field.

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Step 16: Publish and review your Person Listing

Click the "Publish” button at the top of the page.

A new sidebar will appear; click the “Publish” button again.

Click the “View listing” button, which will open the Person Listing in a new tab. 

Take the time to check your work.

• Proofread everything to check for typos
• Check the display of the featured image
• Click all links to make sure they work
• Make sure hyperlinks all have descriptive text (this is an accessibility requirement)

In the pictured example, each section of the Person Listing is marked with the corresponding step from this knowledge base training article. Click on the image thumbnail to see the full-sized version.

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Step 17: Celebrate

You've made it through all the available fields! Your completed Person Listing will now appear on the People page for all Related departments selected in step 5 .

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