ABSTRACT

After the annual evaluation of a submitted dossier, most faculty members receive one or more Promotion and Tenure (P & T) review outcome letters. Decoding and interpreting the review letters, reflecting upon the reviewers’ suggestions for future improvement, and applying recommendations put forth in the letters are important steps in a successful P & T dossier review process. The importance of “the letters” and what you do with the implicit and explicit recommendations contained in the letters cannot be overstated.We believe that the letters, and your

response to the letters, are so important that we have devoted an entire chapter to “decoding the letters.” In this chapter, we explain how you can make smart, strategic use of the content of the letters. Given that there is little to no literature on this topic, we undergird this chapter with our personal experiences in conjunction with long-held suggestions from many of our colleagues, senior faculty, and mentors.