Chair’s Letter of Solicitation

Professor ________________________________
Department of ____________________________
University of _____________________________
City, State zip
Dear Professor ___________________________:

I am writing to ask you to evaluate Assistant Professor ________________________ who is being considered for promotion to Associate Professor in the Department of _______________________ at the University of Washington. Your letter will be used in our Department, School and University review. I enclose a copy of Professor ____________________________ curriculum vitae and bibliography for your assistance in making this evaluation, in addition to other material the candidate has provided for your review. Please note that we do not require that you summarize the candidate’s educational or work history or to otherwise enumerate information contained in the curriculum vitae. Please instead comment specifically on the significance and influence of the selected works included in the dossier, and the candidate’s trajectory and promise.

Your letter, which we need to have no later than __________________________ should contain the following information:

• How well and in which capacity do you know the candidate?
• Your view of the significance, independence, influence and promise of the candidate’s scholarship. Please include a description of the potential or actual impact of the candidate’s scholarly contributions on the discipline and related fields.
• The degree to which the candidate has a national/international reputation.
• Some comparison of the candidate’s accomplishments with others at a similar career stage in the same or related fields.
• Any relevant observations about the candidate’s teaching/mentorship, service, and leadership that you feel are useful for our deliberations.

The opinions of outside reviewers are a necessary and valued part of the University of Washington’s promotion review process. Your letter will help us to document the external evaluation of Professor ___________________ work. Because I would like to include a statement about the referees when I forward their letters to our Dean, I would appreciate it if you could return a copy of your biosketch with your letter.

Under University of Washington policy your letter, as part of the official personnel file, will be held in confidence. While not given access to it, the candidate and/or members of the public may be, upon formal request in accordance with the Washington State Public Records law, provided with excerpts of all such confidential evaluations in the candidate’s file without disclosure of the identifications of the evaluators.

Interpretations by the courts of the Washington State Public Disclosure law have held that external letters of evaluation sought in the normal course of promotion reviews are exempt from disclosure. The University treats these letters as internal confidential documents and does not release them to the candidate nor others outside of faculty and administrators directly involved in the promotion decision process. We commit to retain your evaluation in such confidence, except to the extent we are required to disclose its contents by adjudication or court order, and even then, we will make every effort to protect your personal identity.

STATEMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS IN CLOCK-MANAGED RANKS ONLY: Please note that promotion and/or tenure clocks can differ for candidates for a number of reasons including, for example, family or sick leaves. Our expectations of a candidate for promotion/tenure do not change as a result, only the time it takes to achieve them. As a standard matter, all reviewers should be aware that any candidate’s career trajectory may include periods during which the candidate has been approved to be off the clock in terms of expected progress towards promotion and/or tenure.

We recognize the time and effort such evaluation letters take and thank you in advance for your important contribution to the University of Washington. If you need further information about this request, please contact ______________ at ________.

Sincerely,

Professor ________________________________
Department of ____________________________
University of _____________________________
City, State zip

Dear Professor ___________________________:

I am writing to ask you to evaluate Assistant Teaching Professor ________________________ who is being considered for promotion to Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of _______________________ at the University of Washington. Your letter will be used in our Department, School, and University review. I enclose a copy of Professor ____________________________’s curriculum vitae and bibliography for your assistance in making this evaluation, in addition to other material the candidate has provided for your review.

Teaching track faculty at the University of Washington are required to engage in scholarship and may choose to demonstrate this through publication. However, publication is not a requirement per the Faculty Code, rather it may be evidenced through other means such as, but not limited to, introduction of new knowledge or methods into course content, development of new courses, curricula, or course materials.

Please note that we do not require that you summarize the candidate’s educational or work history or to otherwise enumerate information contained in the curriculum vitae. Please instead comment specifically on the significance, influence, and innovation of the selected works and materials included in the dossier, and the candidate’s trajectory and promise.

Your letter, which we need to have no later than __________________________ should contain the following information:

• How well and in which capacity do you know the candidate?
• Your view of the significance, influence, innovation, and promise of the candidate’s scholarship and teaching/mentorship. Please include a description of the potential or actual impact of the candidate’s scholarly contributions on the discipline and related fields.
• The degree to which the candidate has a national/international reputation.
• Some comparison of the candidate’s accomplishments with other teaching-focused faculty at a similar career stage in the same or related fields.
• Any relevant observations about the candidate’s service, and leadership that you feel are useful for our deliberations.

The opinions of outside reviewers are a necessary and valued part of the University of Washington’s promotion review process. Your letter will help us to document the external evaluation of Professor ___________________ work. Because I would like to include a statement about the referees when I forward their letters to our Dean, I would appreciate it if you could return a copy of your biosketch with your letter.

Under University of Washington policy your letter, as part of the official personnel file, will be held in confidence. While not given access to it, the candidate and/or members of the public may be, upon formal request in accordance with the Washington State Public Records law, provided with excerpts of all such confidential evaluations in the candidate’s file without disclosure of the identifications of the evaluators.

Interpretations by the courts of the Washington State Public Disclosure law have held that external letters of evaluation sought in the normal course of promotion reviews are exempt from disclosure. The University treats these letters as internal confidential documents and does not release them to the candidate nor others outside of faculty and administrators directly involved in the promotion decision process. We commit to retain your evaluation in such confidence, except to the extent we are required to disclose its contents by adjudication or court order, and even then, we will make every effort to protect your personal identity.

We recognize the time and effort such evaluation letters take and thank you in advance for your important contribution to the University of Washington. If you need further information about this request, please contact ______________ at ________.
Sincerely,

Professor ________________________________
Department of ____________________________
University of _____________________________
City, State zip

Dear Professor ___________________________:

I am writing to ask you to evaluate Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice ________________________ who is being considered for promotion to Associate Professor of Clinical Practice in the Department of _______________________ at the University of Washington. Your letter will be used in our Department, School, and University review. I enclose a copy of Professor ____________________________’s curriculum vitae and bibliography for your assistance in making this evaluation, in addition to other material the candidate has provided for your review.

Clinical Practice Professorial track faculty at the University of Washington are required to engage in scholarship and may choose to demonstrate this through publication. However, publication is not a requirement per the Faculty Code, rather it may be evidenced through other means such as, but not limited to: creation or use of innovative teaching or pedagogical methods; participation and leadership in professional conferences and associations; initiatives in health care equity; novel interventions to improve the quality and safety of clinical care; introduction of new knowledge or methods into clinical practice; or innovative leadership in clinical practice.

Please note that we do not require that you summarize the candidate’s educational or work history or to otherwise enumerate information contained in the curriculum vitae. Please instead comment specifically on the significance, influence, and innovation of the selected works and materials included in the dossier, and the candidate’s trajectory and promise.

Your letter, which we need to have no later than __________________________ should contain the following information:

• How well and in which capacity do you know the candidate?
• Your view of the significance, influence, innovation, and promise of the candidate’s scholarship and teaching/mentorship. Please include a description of the potential or actual impact of the candidate’s scholarly contributions on the discipline and related fields.
• The degree to which the candidate has a national/international reputation.
• Some comparison of the candidate’s accomplishments with other clinically-focused faculty at a similar career stage in the same or related fields.
• Any relevant observations about the candidate’s clinical practice, service, and leadership that you feel are useful for our deliberations.

The opinions of outside reviewers are a necessary and valued part of the University of Washington’s promotion review process. Your letter will help us to document the external evaluation of Professor ___________________ work. Because I would like to include a statement about the referees when I forward their letters to our Dean, I would appreciate it if you could return a copy of your biosketch with your letter.

Under University of Washington policy your letter, as part of the official personnel file, will be held in confidence. While not given access to it, the candidate and/or members of the public may be, upon formal request in accordance with the Washington State Public Records law, provided with excerpts of all such confidential evaluations in the candidate’s file without disclosure of the identifications of the evaluators.

Interpretations by the courts of the Washington State Public Disclosure law have held that external letters of evaluation sought in the normal course of promotion reviews are exempt from disclosure. The University treats these letters as internal confidential documents and does not release them to the candidate nor others outside of faculty and administrators directly involved in the promotion decision process. We commit to retain your evaluation in such confidence, except to the extent we are required to disclose its contents by adjudication or court order, and even then, we will make every effort to protect your personal identity.

We recognize the time and effort such evaluation letters take and thank you in advance for your important contribution to the University of Washington. If you need further information about this request, please contact ______________ at ________.

Sincerely,