Tenure & Promotion Procedures- Outside Letters
[3] Outside Letters
The ARs state that outside letters shall be obtained by the chair or director in part from and in part independent of suggestions of the individual being considered (AR II-1.0-1, Section III.D). Although no specific number of outside letters is stipulated in the Administrative Regulations, we now require a minimum of six outside letters, of which four should be from individuals not suggested by the candidate. The number of letters may vary if the candidate’s training was at the University of Kentucky or if the number of potential, outside reviewers is limited because of the candidate’s disciplinary interests. In cases involving the initial appointment of a faculty member already holding tenure at the rank of Professor at a research-oriented university, three letters solicited by the chair will be sufficient. Letters from external reviewers provided by the faculty member during the hiring process may also be included.
The file must indicate which letters were suggested by the candidate and which were selected independently. Letters from a candidate's major professor, research advisor, former students or postdoctoral fellows, or close friends carry less weight than those written by independent reviewers. Outside letters are important in tenure and promotion reviews, thus the appropriate unit administrators must carefully consider those factors that should have the greatest bearing on the selection of external evaluations independent of the candidate. On balance, letters from scholars at research-oriented universities are given the most serious consideration. However, the judicious inclusion of letters from persons affiliated with prestigious institutes, centers or specialized schools may also be warranted. It would be helpful if the chair or director counseled the candidate as to this weighting consideration.
The responsibility for soliciting outside letters rests with the chair or director. The candidate's only participation is to supply the chair, division chief, or director with suggestions of names and addresses. It is imperative that the chair or director send samples of the candidate's work and teaching evaluations to the outside evaluators. The dossier must indicate what work was sent. The chair or director will consult with the candidate about which samples of work to send. The outside letters should address the quality of the candidate's work and provide an objective analysis of its merits and its contributions to the field. The qualifications of external reviews must be noted in the dossier.
In the case of Special Title Series candidates, or of candidates with unique assignments, material representative of the work in the substantive areas of the candidate’s distribution of effort must be provided to the external reviewers.