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