ACADEMIC DEANS
DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
As schools and departments/units continue to assemble dossiers for the current review cycle, I write to share important reminders and provide clarity when drafting and preparing departmental recommendation letters.
The department recommendation letter may be written by a departmental committee, as departmental procedures stipulate, and signed by a non-conflicted committee chair. The department recommendation letter may not be written or signed by the department chair. Additional points for departments/units to consider include:
- The chair of the department letter-writing committee must be non-conflicted and must sign the department letter.
- The committee chair must be a senate faculty member, but they do NOT have to be at or above the rank of the nominee or in the same academic series as the nominee.
- The committee chair is the only member required to be listed at the conclusion of the letter, but other members may be listed if desired. If multiple members are listed, then the member that is the committee chair must be clearly identified.
- Other committee members may be collaborators on papers/projects, or have shared grants with the nominee, but they cannot have a familial or romantic relationship with the nominee.
- Non-senate faculty can serve as committee members.
I hope this information and guidance will help improve on the preparation of department recommendation letters and the entire academic personnel review process. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at dkodowd@uci.edu.
Sincerely,
Diane K. O’Dowd
Vice Provost for Academic Personnel