I. Sample Letter to External Letter Writers for Appointment to Senior Lecturer

<Date>

Page 2

I. SAMPLE LETTER TO EXTERNAL LETTER WRITERS FOR APPOINTMENT TO SENIOR LECTURER

<Date>

FirstNameLastName

<Title>

<City<State>

Dear Professor <LastName>,

We write to ask for your advice as we consider appointing [NAME] to the rank of senior lecturer in the Department of [DEPARTMENT NAME] at Harvard University. We would greatly appreciate your assessment of [NAME]’s teaching abilities and scholarly contributions and a specific recommendation as to whether or not [he/she] should be appointed as a senior lecturer in the field of [FIELD]. If you have personal or professional connections with [NAME], please note these in your response.

At Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, senior lecturer appointments are made primarily on the basis of demonstrated excellence in teaching. Scholarly work is also a significant consideration. Ordinarily, a senior lecturer will hold a doctorate [INSERT AS NEEDED: “, with the exception, as appropriate, of appointments in the arts”], will have taught within the ladder ranks at another university or peer undergraduate institution, or will have a commensurate scholarly record. A senior lectureship is an untenured position. To aid your evaluation, we have enclosed a copy of our job posting and [NAME]’s curriculum vitae and teaching statement.

We will make every effort possible to keep your response confidential. We will make it available only to the senior members of the Department of [DEPARTMENT NAME] and others directly involved in the formal appointment process.

Please let us know by email ([EMAIL ADDRESS]) whether you are willing to write a letter. If you are, it would be most helpful for us to receive the letter by [DATE]. To expedite the process, we would be glad to receive an electronic copy of your letter, with a signed hard copy following later ([NAME, MAILING ADDRESS FOR HARD COPY]).

Thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,

Chair, Department of [DEPARTMENT NAME]