Tenure and Promotion Handbook
Item K: Letters from Alumni
See Faculty Manual §4.XI.4.(k).
1. Individuals who have access to this item:
- All those granted access to the dossier:
- The initiator
- The Associate Dean
- Members of the Tenure and Promotion Committee
- The Dean of the College
- The President
2. Participants in preparing this item, and role of each participant:
- Candidate – Identifies 1–5 alumni from whom letters will be solicited; candidate may consult with initiator in identifying prospective writers
- Initiator – Provides advice to candidate concerning the selection of alumni to write; sends letters to identified alumni soliciting letters for the candidate’s dossier
- Invited alumni – Prepare letters for the dossier
3. Guidelines and suggestions:
- While the Faculty Manual indicates that “no more than five” letters from alumni are to be included in the dossier, dossiers typically include 3–5 letters. A smaller number of letters is not interpreted to indicate a less favorable alumni opinion of the candidate’s performance.
- It may be helpful to include alumni from different stages of the candidate’s career, to indicate a breadth of alumni experience and opinion with respect to both the short-term and long-term impact of the candidate’s teaching.
- While alumni should be informed of the three categories of faculty performance, they are not expected to have detailed or first-hand knowledge of the candidate’s performance in all three categories. They should be invited to comment on those aspects of the candidate’s work with which they are most familiar, and to provide concrete examples and specific evidence in support of their evaluation. They should also be encouraged to comment on the impact of the candidate’s work on their lives since graduation.
- To avoid a potentially informal email response from the alumni, the initiator may wish to include a note in the letter of solicitation requesting a signed letter by U.S. mail, and indicate that the alumni letters will be placed in the candidate’s dossier
- No enclosures are necessary to accompany this letter.
4. Additional resources:
- Sample Initiator’s letter to alumni (Appendix 2)
5. Contact for questions or concerns:
- Assistant Provost (x3004)
