Promotion & Tenure Letters

The following is the policy of the College of

Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2002 09:55:51 -0500
From: "Donald J. Foss" 
Subject: Outside letters

Colleagues,

Someone recently brought up again the question of who determines
the outside letter writers for promotion and tenure binders.  The
answer is that you do.  The candidate does not determine from whom
the outside letters are solicited.  I took a look at the policy at
the web site of our sister College at UF, and found the statement
there to be a good one.  Namely:


"The minimum number of outside letters is three. Most departments 
submit more than this, and in some instances that number is very 
large. It is suggested that you submit no more
than six letters from carefully selected distinguished scholars. In 
choosing these individuals it is recommended that the chair ask the 
candidate for suggestions and that no more than half
of the solicitations come from her/his list. The remainder should be 
individuals selected by the department; i. e., by the chair and 
knowledgeable colleagues. Furthermore, while it is
acceptable (and understandable) that one or two of these letters 
might come from the candidate's senior colleagues (i. e., doctoral 
mentors, research collaborators, etc.), the vast majority
should be from more disinterested parties. All such letters received 
shall become part of the dossier."

I don't think there is a lot of value in asking a doctoral mentor 
because one probably would not get much information over and above 
what was obtained when the candidate was hired.  There are 
exceptions, of course.  When I chaired a Department I asked each 
candidate for suggested names and also, in confidence, asked if there 
was one person to whom I should not write.  The modal answer to the 
latter question was "no," but if a name came up I always respected 
the request.  I felt no obligation to ask those suggested by the 
candidate unless I determined that they were leaders in the 
discipline either by personal knowledge, citation sleuthing, or by 
consulting with others.
Don