3.12.B.3 - External Letters

The inclusion of external letters as part of the Promotion and Tenure process is required. External letters will not be required for non-tenure track faculty unless research and scholarship expectations are 50% or more of their workload expectations nor for Post-Tenure Review (PTR). For faculty submitting for promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and tenure, 3 external letters will be required. For faculty submitting for promotion from Associate Professor to Professor and/or tenure, 3 external letters will be required. The actual process for obtaining external letters will be as follows:

I. Teaching Faculty

1. The person submitting a portfolio (herein after referred to as the “candidate”) and the department chair/school director (herein after referred to as “chair”) develop a list of potential letter writers, twice the minimum number of the total required, with the candidate supplying at least half the names on the list.
2. The chair and the candidate will discuss potential letter writers and in collaboration will develop a mutually acceptable, hierarchized list. The majority of letters must come from individuals who are neither co-authors nor dissertation committee members. If the candidate and the chair cannot reach agreement on the list of potential letter writers, the dean will make the final determination of the list.
3. Individuals who pose a conflict of interest (such as friends, relatives, KSU coworkers) will be removed from the list.
4. For promotion to Professor, the candidate chooses 2 names out of the final 3 letter writers; the chair chooses 1.
5. For promotion to Associate Professor, the candidate chooses 2 out of the final 3 letter writers; the chair chooses 1.
6. The candidate may veto two names on the chair’s initial list with no reasons or explanations required.
7. Neither the chair nor the candidate may solicit a letter concerning Scholarship/Creative Activity from outside of the mutually agreed upon list.
8. The candidate may choose to solicit a maximum of 5 additional letters of support in any area of Teaching, and/or Service from outside the mutually composed list. When soliciting such letters, the candidate will include that the writer is asked not to make a recommendation as such. No individual may write more than one (1) letter of support for a single candidate’s portfolio.
9. The candidate will enter the names and contact information for the reviewers on the final list into the digital portfolio system, along with the KSU faculty member’s CV, department guidelines for promotion and tenure, and reprints and/or professional portfolios or other documentation as appropriate by discipline.  The candidate should select the work to be shared with the letter writer.  It is unnecessary to have all materials evaluated.
10. The department chair contacts the potential letter writers through the digital portfolio system requesting their assistance using the standard KSU “Letter to External Reviewers.” 
11. If the letter writer declines, the chair will choose another letter writer in the order of the list.
12. Once packets are sent to external letter writers, no additional information regarding the candidate’s research/creative activity will be sent to the external letter writer.
13. The letter writers will upload their letter into electronic portfolio workflows before the faculty member submits the portfolio.
14. If requests are sent to more potential letter writers than are required, and if more than the required numbers are received, all letters will be included in the portfolio.
15. If fewer than the number of letters requested by the chair are received, the chair will so note in the portfolio and the review will proceed.
16. The candidate will not see the letters unless the candidate expressly requests a copy of the letters pursuant the Georgia Open Record Act (O.C.G.A §50-18-0 through 50-18-76). 

II. Administrators

1. All department chairs, deans, associate deans, VPs, AVPS, etc. must follow the same procedure for soliciting incorporating external letters into their portfolio following the guidelines for teaching faculty.