[Letterhead]
[date]
Dear [reviewer]:
Dr./Mr./Ms. [name] is a candidate for the job in [department or school] at the University of Washington. We seek your assistance in providing an assessment of [candidate’s name]’s record. An assessment by you, as someone who has a thorough knowledge of this field, will be valuable to us in arriving at our decision. Your assessment will remain confidential within federal and state guidelines except to those individuals directly involved in the selection process. We request that external evaluators direct their response to the following issues:
- State how and for how long you have known the candidate.
- Assess the significance, independence, influence, and promise of the candidate’s creative work and the degree of national and international recognition [s/he] has received.
- Compare the candidate’s accomplishments with leading scholars at a similar stage in the same or related fields.
- Assess the promise of future contributions to the field.
- If you have first-hand knowledge about [candidate’s] teaching effectiveness, please include that information as well.
Thank you for your time. I would appreciate a reply by [date].
Sincerely,