Self-Assessment Letter

Not to exceed 5 pages

This should clearly and succinctly articulate your accomplishments and impacts in the respective areas of your role statement. It serves as the executive summary of the outcomes/impacts that are further detailed in the packet. Focus on your achievements that support promotion, making sure to put these in context within your field. Also, succinctly and openly contextualize any gaps or weaknesses and put them in context. Because this is an executive summary, address a gap or weakness briefly and, if needed, expand on it in the appropriate section of your portfolio. Tables and graphs should be incorporated to summarize data and demonstrate impact. Additional tables and graphs that provide greater detail can be incorporated in other sections of the dossier. 

Clearly define your area of emphasis (i.e., research, teaching, or extension) and provide summaries of other areas. If your role statement does not allocate any evaluative weight to a certain area, you do not need to address that area. For each area that is part of your role statement, have a subsection addressing accomplishments/impact in that domain.

Research

• Use terminology that is understandable to a non-specialist – the central tenure and promotion committee is comprised of faculty from every college on campus.
• Describe your research area and why it is important.
• Describe how your efforts have led to achieving excellence/effectiveness in research. What is the impact of your research? Why is what you do important?
• Explain the outcomes (support with data in the packet) of your research efforts. If you have two (or more) related lines of research, a graphic may be helpful for clearly showing how the lines and the products from those lines of work are related.
• Address any difficulties and how you have worked, or are working, to overcome them.
• Demonstrate how your achievements to date position you for future successes.
• Include a citation analysis (or summary of one) and other information that helps demonstrate your impact and national/international reputation in your field.
• For faculty being considered for promotion to Professor, be clear on your trajectory and accomplishments since being promoted to Associate Professor.

Teaching

• Include a condensed version of your teaching philosophy.
• Discuss your approach to achieving excellence/effectiveness in teaching.
• Provide a high-level summary of the outcomes of your efforts including in-class settings as well as mentorship of students, clinical supervision, etc.
• For teaching excellence, be clear how you have made an impact beyond simply receiving good course evaluations; include a summary of outcomes for other teaching activities.
• For clinical faculty with direct services as part of their teaching, present summary data that highlight skills as a clinician. This may include feedback from client surveys, clinic referral patterns, etc.

Extension

• Provide information on your programs (e.g., needs assessment, innovative approaches, impacts, and recruitment).
• Discuss your ability to reach diverse audiences.
• Provide information on your work with county agents and/or other specialists.
• Discuss your efforts in disseminating information.
• Offer evidence for how your work has been impactful.

Service

• This section can be brief and summarize key service activities. Include service to the department, college/university, profession, and community as appropriate.