2.57cSubmitting a referee grid: Instructions for Administrative Staff
EXTERNAL REFEREES
□The referee grid should contain at least the minimum, and not more than the maximum, number of external referees as specified in the appropriate appointment form. (In general, the Office of Academic Affairs recommends using the maximum number of referees to increase the likelihood that you will receive the minimum required number of letters in a timely fashion).
□The list of external referees should represent a mixture of relationships to the candidate. For Assistant Professor candidates, whose reputations may not be nationally established, the majority of the external referees may be former mentors and collaborators; however, every effort should be made to secure assessments from objective “experts in the field” (those who are not collaborators or former mentors). For candidates at the Associate Professor and Professor levels, it is expected that the majority of the external referees will be “experts in the field” (neither mentors nor collaborators).
□The list of external referees should represent a mixture of Universities. For Assistant Professor candidates, whose reputations may not be nationally established, it is understood that the majority of the external referees may be from a limited number of institutions. For candidates at the Associate Professor and Professor levels, it is expected that a greater mix of institutions will be represented.
□Provide a brief footnote on the grid for each external referee who does not hold an academic rank (the general expectation is that the overwhelming majority of the external referees will hold academic positions – exceptions are sometimes included, but should be explained). For example, “As Director of product research for _____ corporation, Dr. Jane Smith does not hold an academic position. Her evaluation is requested because she is widely recognized as a world expert in ______.” It is NOT necessary to provide explanations for candidates who hold appointments at the NIH, the CDC, and similar government institutions. For MCL files only, a member of Stanford’s Adjunct Clinical Faculty may occasionally be included as an external referee with a brief footnoted explanation on the grid.
□Provide a brief explanation as a footnote on the grid for each external referee whose academic rank is not at least equal to that of the candidate (the general expectation is that all of the external referees will hold academic positions with academic rank at least equal to that proposed for the candidate – exceptions are sometimes included, but must be explained). For example, “Dr. John Doe is an Assistant Professor. He is widely known as an expert in ______and his assessment was especially valued by the committee.”
INTERNAL REFEREES
□The referee grid should contain at least the minimum, and not more than the maximum, number of internal referees as specified in the appropriate appointment form. (In general, the office of academic affairs recommends soliciting the maximum number of referees).
□All internal referees should be members of Stanford’s faculty (UTL, MCL, NTLR, or NTLT). (as above, for MCL files only, a member of Stanford’s Adjunct Clinical Faculty may occasionally be included as an external referee with a brief footnoted explanation on the grid.)
□The department Chair should NOT be included as internal referees (there is a general rule that a contributor to the file should not summarize her or his opinion of the candidate in more than one place. The Chair will be writing a summary cover memo and should not be approached for a letter).
□Departments may solicit internal referee letters from members of the evaluation or search committee if suitable internal evaluations are not readily available from faculty members who are not members of the committee.
□Provide a brief explanation as a footnote on the grid for each internal referee whose academic rank is not at least equal to that of the candidate (the general expectation is that all of the internal referees will hold academic rank at least equal to that proposed for the candidate – exceptions are sometimes included, but must be explained). For example, “Dr. John Doe is an Assistant Professor. His expertise in ______was especially valued by the committee.”
TRAINEES
□The referee grid should contain at least the minimum, and not more than the maximum, number of trainees as specified in the appropriate appointment form. (In general, the office of academic affairs recommends using the maximum number of trainees)
□The list of trainees should be generated by random selection from a list of the candidate’s past and current trainees (if the number of the candidate’s past and current trainees is less than the maximum specified by the form, the entire list should be solicited).
□In order to ensure candid responses, the mix of trainees should if possible favor recent former trainees over current trainees. Thus, you may wish to randomly select a number of recent former trainees, and then randomly select one or two current trainees. (Whenever trainee letters are required, this selection process will need to be described in a sentence or two in the teaching section of the long form).
□The current status of each trainee should be indicated, such as their current job title or academic position.
NAMED PEERS
□The appropriate long form template should be examined to determine whether named peers are required to be provided to referees for comparison to the candidate.
□If named peers are required, a grid of 5 (five) peers should be included.
□The grid should include each peer’s name, current title, current institution, and the year and institution of the most advanced degree (for example, Jane Smith. M.D.: 1967, Harvard) - do your best to obtain this information from public sources – such as the web. Do not contact the peers. It is common to be missing this information for one or two of the peers. The Provost’s office has requested this information to help them generally verify the length of career and quality of training of the named peers in order to determine that they indeed represent appropriate comparisons to the candidate.
□The grid should also include information on the area of study and scientific/academic distinctions for each peer, as you would for the external referees. This information is important, as it will help reviewers assess the breadth of the field defined by the peer group and the distinction of the peers themselves.
SOLICITOR
□To ensure candid assessment, the person who signs the solicitation letters (the requestor) should not be a collaborator or mentor of the candidate.
CV AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
The top candidate’s CV and bibliography should be submitted with the referee grid. This need not be in “Stanford format”, but should be complete (an abbreviated CV, such as an NIH bio sketch, is not acceptable).
The CV and bibliography should be up-to-date. It is of critical importance that all publications published or submitted, as well as all grants received or submitted, are included. This should be verified with the candidate shortly before proceeding with the solicitation.
Referee Grid InstructionsRev 11/5/2018Page 1 of 3