Recommendations for Tenure

Proposal Letter from Department Chair
Tenure

I. Introductory paragraph. State the candidate’s full name, degree, and academic rank.

II. Teaching. Provide a detailed assessment of the candidate's accomplishments as a teacher. Provide concrete examples of why the candidate's teaching accomplishments justify tenure.

III. Research. Discuss the candidate's accomplishments in research. Provide assessments of why the candidate's research accomplishments warrant considerations of tenure.

IV Scholarly publications. Review the strength and nature of the candidate's publications. Emphasize how the candidate's efforts have contributed to the research mission of the college.

V. Clinical Practice (Omit for non-clinical faculty). Describe the candidate's clinical practice and how the candidate has contributed to patient care in the College and community. What is the exceptional nature of the candidate's clinical practice that warrants tenure?

VI. Discuss the attributes of the candidate in light of the interests of the College and University. Consider professional judgment, wisdom, collegiality, citizenship in the academic community, the capacity to develop colleagues and students, contributions to the College's academic and societal mission, and the commitment to scholarly exchange and intellectual exploration.

VII. Summary and recommendations


Example Letters for Tenure

Dear (Dean):

I am pleased to have the privilege of proposing James E. Jones, MD, for tenure in the Department of . I have reviewed the criteria for tenure, which, I believe, Dr. Jones has ably fulfilled. Dr. Jones has held the rank of in the track since 19 . His accomplishments and contributions to the University have established his academic maturity and the mutual trust that merits tenure.

Teaching

Dr. Jones came to MUSC with recognized talents in education. In his first year at MUSC, he was selected as a Dean's Teaching Scholar and received training in curriculum development, teaching, and adult learning theory.

He has been an active participant in teaching of medical students, pediatric residents, medicine residents, and fellows in pulmonary and critical care. He is a lecturer in pulmonary pathophysiology for first and third year medical students and has served as a mentor for medical students on research electives and rotations through clinic and consult services. He presently works with 3 to 5 students during their third year clinical rotation in pulmonary every month in clinics and on consultation services. His student evaluations are always in the “very good” range and his scores are above faculty means.

Dr. Jones has served as faculty adviser for 7 graduate students during the last 5 years. All of these students have successfully completed their training and 6 are presently on the faculty of university research centers.

He has also participated extensively in developing the pulmonary curriculum for medical students through his role as chair of the committee to revise curriculum for the Year I Medical Respiratory course. He has incorporated into this curriculum new elements of pathology, embryology, outcomes, and imaging with more traditional elements of anatomy and physiology. He is considered by his colleagues to be a gifted educator. Dr. Jones also reorganized and won initial ACGME accreditation for the critical care fellowship at MUSC.

Dr. Jones lectures extensively at CME programs throughout South Carolina. He has been visiting professor at 5 academic centers within the last three years. He also has been an invited speaker at 5 annual meetings of his international professional societies.

Research

Dr. Jones’s research efforts have focused on respiratory physiology and the control of breathing. His salary has been fully support by extramural grants from the NIH for 5 of the last 6 years. Dr. Jones’s most important research accomplishments relate to his innovative use of non-invasive imaging technology to assess the respiratory effort of critically ill patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. His basic understanding of respiratory physiology and his considerable collaborative efforts with radiology colleagues at Duke have allowed him to adapt diverse imaging tools to pursue questions of ventilatory drive. This ability to develop skills in different fields has made Dr. Jones a unique resource for investigators in several departments at MUSC. His collaboration with other investigators has been a critical element in their ability to receive extramural funding. Dr. Jones has also assumed leadership in our department for encouraging his colleagues in their investigative efforts. Three of our junior faculty collaborate extensively with Dr. Jones in investigations related to respiratory physiology. On of these faculty is now poised to become an independent investigator.


Scholarly Publications

Dr. Jones’s has published extensively in his field of investigation. He has 42 peer-reviewed publications in major journals in pulmonary, critical care, and physiology. Five of his publications have been cited in the Cochrane Collaboration of systematic reviews. During the last 5 years, Dr. Jones has been able to publish 8 papers generated by his two most recent grants that pertain to imaging assessment of respiratory drive. These papers have stimulated interest in our training program from fellow candidates interested in applied physiology research and academic careers. His clinical reviews of these topics have also generated interest in practitioners within South Carolina of applying some of his patient monitoring observations to clinical practice. Of note is his mentoring of research students and graduate students in his publications. He has a recently increasing proportion of publications for which he is senior author and the first authors are trainees in his laboratory. Dr. Jones's academic efforts have reached a degree of maturity that provides the University with multiple levels of benefit that merits tenure.

Clinical Practice

Despite his extensive research efforts, Dr. Jones has made major contributions to the area of clinical practice. He was recruited to MUSC because of his strengths both in physiology research and patient care. Since his arrival, he has established a chronic ventilator unit that is a model program for South Carolina. He attends both on this unit and in the ICU and is considered one of the region’s premier intensivists. His leadership in patient care has resulted in the organization of innovative clinical programs within the Medical Center. Largely through his efforts, MUSC has succeeded in providing the community state-of-the-art programs in critical care medicine. He has brought to MUSC new approaches to monitoring critically ill patients and accelerating their weaning from mechanical ventilation. MUSC has now become the place in the region for referral of ventilator-dependent patients. He is a frequent consultant for patient care services in regional hospitals. His devotion to clinical care has provided the University with a resource that would be difficult to replace.

Service and citizenship

In addition to the above accomplishments, Dr. Jones displays the special qualities and maturity of an academic physician who can further the interests of the College and University. His professional conduct, collegiality, and citizenship in the academic community are excellent. He has clearly demonstrated that his leadership and program development skills are superb. He assisted Change Management by moving the respiratory lab from a department function to a program within the hospital. He also facilitated the medical center’s planning retreat and articulated vision for the future of his department. His good judgment and long-term support of the College’s academic and societal mission have resulted in his appointment as director of research for his department. We expect with confidence that he will promote the commitment to scholarly exchange and the pursuit of intellectual communication within his department and the College of Medicine. His special attributes for negotiation, communication, and leadership extend contributions to the University well beyond the bounds of the College of Medicine.

In summary, on the basis of his multiple accomplishments and contributions to research, teaching, and patient care at MUSC, in the region, and nationally in addition to the mutual trust developed between him and the University, Dr. Jones clearly deserves tenure. He is an astute clinician and talented investigator and teacher who will be even more productive in the future. He has demonstrated leadership in patient care that has resulted in the development of clinical services that address the needs of citizens in South Carolina. He serves as a critical resource and role model for his colleagues in their efforts to support the mission of the University.

I appreciate your efforts in considering this proposal for tenure.

Sincerely,