Sample Request for an External Letter of Recommendation
for a Tenure Track Position
Dear _____________:
The School of/Department of ______________ at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill is reviewing the qualifications of ______________, for promotion from Assistant Professor
to Associate Professor with tenure (or Associate to full Professor with tenure, or Associate
without tenure to Associate with tenure).The School/Department will base its recommendation
concerning ________ on the value of his/her research, teaching, and service. I write to seek your
opinion about ______ worthiness for this promotion. To aid in your review of his/her
qualifications and contributions, his/her curriculum vitae and most recent and (according to
him/her) most important publications are enclosed.
We are particularly interested in placing ____________ scholarly work in a national context. We
would value, therefore, your evaluation of the importance of his/her area of study and of the
significance of his/her contributions to it. We are also interested in your opinion of his/her stature
relative to his/her peers nationally.
Please refer to the following criteria of the School/Department Tenure and Promotion policy in
giving your assessment of ____________. [List criteria here]
Appointments or promotion to the rank of Associate Professor must demonstrate outstanding
ability. The candidate must demonstrate outstanding scholarly contributions, show independence
and leadership in research or practice, and have a growing national reputation in his/her area of
expertise. Please understand that, here at UNC-CH, promotion from Assistant to Associate
Professor is tightly linked to a decision regarding the granting of tenure. Thus, either
____________ will be promoted and granted permanent tenure or he/she will have no choice but
to leave the university. In this letter, we are asking for your opinion as to ____________
suitability for promotion and/or tenure according to the APT criteria described above that are in
place here at UNC-CH. It would not be helpful, nor would it be relevant to state that: “Dr.
____________ would qualify for promotion at our institution, but would not yet be appropriate
for tenure.”
For promotion to the rank of Full Professor the candidate must continue to demonstrate high
quality teaching, make outstanding scholarly contributions, and have a national reputation in
his/her area of expertise. There must be strong evidence that his/her scholarly work has
stimulated the work of other researchers or practitioners, has provided "breakthroughs" in the
field, and that, in general, other scholars are paying close attention to the candidate's work.
In addition to the above, we appreciate any assessment you are able to make about the quality of
____________teaching and professional service contributions. While we do recognize that these
areas are often more difficult to assess than is scholarship, any evaluative comments that you can