Attachment to Resolution k:

External Peer Evaluations.

Under current policy set forth in the Faculty Handbook with respect to promotion and/or tenure, a candidate’s dossier must include a prescribed number of letters of evaluation from external peer reviewers. The names of some potential external reviewers are suggested by the candidate and others by the department promotion and tenure committee. Section 4.4.4 of the Faculty Handbook (“Departmental Responsibilities”) provides that the department promotion and tenure committee “should insert a separate document in the external letters section of the dossier identifying the specific external reviewers who were nominated by the candidate versus those nominated by the department, and the criteria used to request letters from specific reviewers.” While this provision provides that such document should be included by the department in the dossier, it does not require that such document be included by the department. Apparently, this recommendation is not always followed. In such cases where it is not followed, those reading the dossier outside the candidate’s department are unable to identify whether the external letters included in the dossier were solicited by the candidate or the department’s promotion and tenure committee. To avoid such confusion, Section 4.4.4 should be amended to require that department promotion and tenure committees include in the candidate’s dossier a separate document identifying whether the external reviewers whose letters are included in the dossier were nominated by the candidate or the department committee.