Portfolio Information for Reviewers

The inclusion of external letters as part of the Promotion and Tenure process is required.

External letters will not be required for non-tenure track faculty unless research and scholarship expectations are 50% or more of their workload expectations nor for Post-Tenure Review (PTR).

For faculty submitting for promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor and tenure, 3 external letters will be required.

For faculty submitting for promotion from Associate Professor to Professor and/or tenure, 3 external letters will be required.

• Download the External Review Letter Template
• View the Reviewers' Guide to External Letters Workflow
• Access the External Letter Creation Quick Reference
• View the Guide for External Reviewers

If you are a single-person level of review (e.g., chair, dean, provost), or a committee chair, you will have access and responsibility to advance the portfolio through the workflow process on your own Watermark account.  If you are on a committee, you will be able to access the portfolio on your own Watermark account, and you may be able to upload draft letters, but you will not be able to process (advance) it. 

When a portfolio has been submitted or processed by the previous level for you to review, you will receive an email from Watermark indicating that you have access to the portfolio. When you log into your Watermark account, click the ‘Reviewers’ icon. Click on the portfolio link in the Inbox section to open the portfolio. 

When external reviews are requested, the materials supplied to the reviewer will appear first, and then the external review letters.  (These are not visible to the faculty member. Please remember not to disclose the names of the external reviewers to the faculty member or in your letter.)

Then the portfolio submission follows, which is the beginning of the portfolio for faculty who did not have external review letters (e.g., non-tenure track promotions, pre- and post-tenure review).  The first item that you see will be a cover page document, then all the other documents submitted as part of the portfolio.  Click on each item to open the document.  

One of the documents that you will be able to access is the Narrative.  In the Narrative, there will be numbered references to supplemental documentation that has been uploaded into the Watermark system.  The list of numbered links is separate from the Narrative (and is not included in the page limit) and is located under the heading "List of Links to Supplemental Evidence Files."  

As you read the Narrative, you will come to numbered references.  If you want to retrieve the file it refers to, you will go to the List of Links to Supplemental Evidence Files and click on the corresponding number.  That will open the related file.  

NOTE: The List of Links to Supplemental Evidence Files document was created when the candidate created the portfolio and cannot be changed by the candidate after submission.  

You also have access in the workflow to the interactive vita that Watermark creates.  Additionally, a faculty member may upload an individual vita that was created outside of Watermark. The narrative should tell you which one the candidate prefers you to look at.  The department and college (if applicable) Promotion and Tenure guidelines have also been included, as have all the ARDs and FPAs since the last portfolio, or the hire date, as required. If these are not included, see the note at the bottom of this page.

To share comments or letters among committee members, upload a file and, instead of clicking "Save" from the Actions menu, click "Publish My Response..."  This will make your draft letter or comments available to other committee members who must also click "Publish My Response..." in order to see it.  The draft files and comments are not visible to the faculty candidate.

When the review of the portfolio is completed and the review letter is written, the administrator or committee chair with access to the Workflow will advance it to the next step.  To do this, you again log into your Watermark account and follow the instructions above to open the submission.  In the box labelled “recommendation letter” you can drag the file containing the letter or click to browse to the letter file on your own computer.  You should also indicate the review recommendation (unless it is a pre-tenure or third year review) and the vote total in the appropriate section.  This is very important for the recordkeeping process – please be sure that the positive or negative recommendation (for each review, if there is more than one, as in tenure and promotion, or promotion and post-tenure review) is indicated in the appropriate place. Please select "N/A" if a review does not apply (like tenure, for a promotion-only portfolio). Finally, after the review letter is uploaded and the recommendation is indicated, click “Action" and then "Advance" to the next step.

NOTE: You have not completed the review until the portfolio is advanced. Clicking ‘Save’ is not enough.

NOTE: "Individual committee members can submit a dissenting letter if they desire; [. . .] All letters by the committee members and the committee as a whole must be dated the same" (KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 3.12.B.6). You may advance the portfolio early, but you must meet the published deadline for your level of review. 

NOTE: "The overall score for PTR reviews will be recorded in the digital portfolio workflow. The committee’s decision letters should include a clear articulation of the recommendation for promotion and/or tenure reviews or the overall score for PTR reviews. All committee members must electronically sign the letter and place it in the digital portfolio workflow." 

The candidate will receive an email when the workflow is advanced and can read the review letter in their Watermark Inbox. No other copies need to be sent, as all levels of review can see your letter in their History section or when they receive the portfolio.

That completes your review of a Watermark portfolio.

NOTE: To maintain the confidentiality of the materials, as required by the handbook, all reviewers MUST DELETE ANY DOWNLOADED MATERIALS from their hard drive, etc., after the review is finished.