Note: This page has been updated in SP24 to account for revisions to VPAA/DOF guidance re: the selection of external reviewers made during AY 23-24, as well improve some of the layout considerations.  

"In the case of an individual standing for tenure, and an individual standing for promotion to professor, two letters assessing the candidate‘s scholarship must be solicited from beyond the College community. The faculty member in consultation with the department chair will compile a list of at least four professional peers from outside the College. The dean of faculty will select two people from the list and will request each to evaluate the faculty member‘s scholarship."

Spring PRIOR to formal review:

   January-April 

• Consult with colleagues within and outside of SMCM, as needed, to brainstorm possible reviewers who meet the bylaws criteria and VPAA guidance

• Faculty are able to 'pre-contact' potential external evaluators. 

• This is a SAMPLE EMAIL INQUIRY to a potential external evaluator. While you should certainly make the language your own, be attentive to retain details like the fact that you're asking them to possibly, not definitely, serve, and that the VPAA/DOF would reach out if they're selected. Be clear with the time frame, and that this is not an anonymous evaluation.  

  • Once that colleague has agreed to serve, there should be no further communication regarding your evaluation until your file has been submitted in January.  While colleagues and collaborators of course have occasion to interact, it's imperative that the candidate not inquire which potential evaluators have been selected, and to maintain a professional distance during the review process.  

May 15: Submit 4 names as proposed external evaluators to the Executive Assistant to the Dean of Faculty (more details below)

Summer

Candidate: Update CV and prepare dossier of materials for review (print/physical and electronic).  All electronic files are to be within a SINGLE Google Drive Folder (viewable to anyone with the link)

Office of Dean of Faculty: Outreach to selected reviewers to confirm their capacity/ability to review around June 1

August 15:  Submit Google Folder, hard copy materials (if relevant), and updated CV to the EA of the Dean of Faculty 

 LATE AUGUST-EARLY SEPTEMBER:  The office of the Dean of Faculty will forward/mail materials to external reviewers

Fall

December 1: Completed external letters due to the Dean of Faculty's Office

Upon receipt, the letter is shared with the candidate, with the Associate Vice President copied.

The Office of the Dean of Faculty will follow-up with reviewers, as necessary, if the deadline is not met.

Instead of insisting that evaluators be complete strangers to the candidate, the Dean of Faculty recognizes that many faculty have very small professional circles in which colleagues will inevitably cross paths to some degree.  Therefore, the following selection criteria apply:

• • instead of selecting the most famous or prestigious names in your field as an external evaluator, the better choice is to choose colleagues who would best be able to contextualize your work within the discipline

  • evaluators must not stand to gain from your promotion (such as a family member or business partner)

  • at least one of the four reviewers you submit should not be a direct collaborator or coauthor

  • evaluators should be tenured, but may be either associate or full professor (or emeritus)

• Instead of selecting the most prestigious names in your field as an external evaluator, the better choice is to choose colleagues who would best be able to contextualize your work within the discipline

• Evaluators must not stand to gain from your promotion (such as a family member or business partner)

• Evaluators should be tenured, but may be either associate or full professor (or emeritus)  

• At least 3 of the 4 suggested reviewers must be at arm’s length. 

• Only one suggested reviewer may be a former collaborator/colleague/advisor, in recognition that some sub-disciplines are quite small and professional collaborations therein are needed/necessary; none may have current professional ties.  

• Reviewers are  considered to be at arm’s length if they have had no prior professional involvement with you in peer-reviewed work.  

When submitting your list of four possible reviewers to the Dean of Faculty by May 15, include :

  a)  each person's name, institution and email address, 

  b) a brief description of your relationship with each reviewer, 

  c) a copy of your current CV to be forwarded to the evaluators.  [you can provide an updated CV when materials are distributed]

The Google Drive Folder of research/creative materials is prepared over the summer for external evaluators.  A few notes here: 

1. If your department has completed a statement on expectations for scholarly/creative production and the document has been reviewed/approved by the Dean of Faculty, you may also include this document in your folder.

2. Keep in mind that this folder should reflect all the research/creative work that you intend to include for the rest of the internal evaluating committees (i.e., PEC, CEC).  That said, be mindful of the fact that it may happen that a paper under review in September (not permitted for inclusion in the research folder for external evaluators) is accepted for publication in November (papers in press are accepted for inclusion).  In these circumstances, it's best to indicate on your CV what works are under review, to signal your active research profile to external evaluators even if they aren't ultimately able to read and include their remarks on that work in their letters.  

3. Conversely, be aware that the folder should *only* include scholarly materials; no other elements from the file are permitted. You may not send the link to your full Google Site. 

4. Once assembled, change all permissions to make contents of the folder viewable to anyone with the link; be prepared to forward the URL to the EA of the VPAA/DOF (Rose Phillips) by no later than August 15. This link will be sent (or in the case of hard copy scholarship/creative work, will be mailed) to your reviewers by August 31.

Once the Dean of Faculty's office has received your two external evaluation letters, they will be forwarded to you.  It's your responsibility to upload these letters to your Google Site, and to comment on their contents in your self-report. Note that this is a fast turn around time. Save them to a Google Drive Folder labelled "External Letters," and add them to this page using the "Insert" menu and select "Drive Folder."  

A CV from each external reviewer will be collected by the Dean of Faculty's office but does not need to be included in the file itself.