Many thanks to Jerome McKean and Roslyn Muraskin for their assistance in answering this newsletter’s question!
Future questions for ‘Ask a Tenured Professor’ should be sent to Lisa Growette Bostaph at lisabostaph@boisestate.edu
Question
I am up for tenure next year and know that I will need to provide a list of possible outside reviewers as part of the process. What is the protocol for communicating with potential reviewers? Should I contact my potential reviewers ahead of time and ask them to reserve some time? Send them my CV? Ask if they would be willing? I know that we are all very busy and want to make the process as manageable as possible.
Answer
The short answer is, do it the way everyone else does it at your institution. In some cases contact with reviewers must be initiated by the department chair or the chair of the tenure committee. Also, you may be asked to provide a list of potential reviewers to be approved by the committee or the chair. There may also be a form to be sent by the chair or committee to the reviewer. Be absolutely sure that you do not violate any local protocols on this. Read through your tenure policies and procedures carefully and consult your committee chair with your questions.
In more detail, if you are allowed outside reviewers (and I think that is a good thing), you need to contact these academics or others who have a good knowledge of your academic successes. These folk must be willing to write a letter about you and to highly recommend you. We have had on, at one time or another, outside reviewers who did not know the person very well, and/or would not recommend them. So you need to choose carefully. Usually, and I don’t know what the situation is in your case, you submit the names of people that the Committee/Chair/Dean will contact and they may only contact 3 out of 5 or so on, so be sure that these people know what is in your Personnel file. Yes, they should have an up to date copy of your resume and can speak only in positives about you. Also, be sure that, if given a deadline, these individuals have the time and are willing to keep to a deadline. There are those who say, Yes, but other things catch their attention and they are unable to complete or even write the letter.
This is a serious process as you may very well know. Make sure that everything that is required is in your Personnel file: Scholarship, Service, and Teaching. Make sure that you have the kinds of publications required for promotion and tenure and copies of such publications are in your file, not simply listed. If you have teaching evaluations, they should be part of your Personnel file, and you should comment if there is something negative in your file. You always have a right to refute any negatives placed in your file. If service is a big thing at your college/university as it is in most places, be sure to document and to list all that you have done.
The reviewers can write about your publications and comment as to their impact on our field. If they know of your teaching and any awards you may have won, those need to be listed and can be spoken about as well. Best advice: choose carefully, choose those who have positive things to say, and most of all will be willing, if asked, to write a letter on your behalf.