Dr. Peter Smith, Professor of English Division of Literature, Languages, & Philosophy Hathaway Hall 404 400 East Main Street Frankfort, KY40601 (502) 597-6317 peter.smith@kysu.edu
October 25, 2016
Colleagues:
This is to provide my strongest possible recommendation for granting tenure to Joe Moffett. As a five-term chair of the Professional Concerns Committee, I can attest to the fact that the concept of “early” tenure was set up specifically for cases like Joe’s: he not only arrived at Kentucky State University with many years of full-time teaching experience, but he was granted tenure at another institution (Kentucky Wesleyan), so he actually fulfills both of the parameters established for the granting of “early” tenure. I was granted “early” tenure myself on the basis of only one of those parameters (I had prior full-time teaching experience but had never been granted tenure).
As for qualifications, a mere cursory glance at Joe's dossier will show that he is not only completely qualified for tenure but ridiculously overqualified for his current rank of assistant professor. In fact, he exceeds all of our division's benchmarks for full professor. Considering the first and most crucial criterion of teaching effectiveness, Joe not only has a record of teaching effectiveness in his three years at KSU, he has a significant record dating back years at different institutions. Looking through his years of student evaluations, a clear picture of an effective instructor who is both valued and respected by the students of various institutions emerges. His evaluations are consistently above median, and he was even granted the highest honor bestowed upon faculty at Kentucky Wesleyan: Teacher of the Year. Beyond that is the wide variety of courses that Joe has offered; this is evidence of a teacher that is unafraid of new teaching challenges (and the preparation time that goes into each new course taught) as well as one who is willing to "step up to the plate" to help serve the needs of the students. Joe passes the crucial criterion of teaching effectiveness with flying colors.
As for scholarly productivity, here is an area where you need to do more than look at his vita. As mentioned above, Joe actually exceeds our divisional standard for full professor: "The Division's requirement is based on the 4 + 4 approach, i.e., 4 publications + 4 conference papers (or their equivalencies ...). This requirement covers the entire career