The ADVICER Template for Faculty Reviewer Letters for Promotion and Appointment

Abstract

Rationale and objectives: Promotion is an important milestone in the career of academic radiologists. Appointments, Promotion and Tenure (APT) committees require multiple letters of support from both internal and external referees. Traditional narrative letters are highly subjective, have high inter-reader variability, are time-intensive, and vulnerable to gender and other biases. The Alliance of Directors and Vice Chairs of Education in Radiology (ADVICER) recognized the need for a standardized template to assist academic faculty, letter writers, and APT committees.

Materials and methods: An ADVICER ad hoc committee of six educators with experience serving as external referees was convened to create a standardized template. Committee members performed a search of the relevant literature and internet sites, spoke with stakeholders such as APT chairs, and ultimately developed a template for faculty reviewer letters using the common clinician-educator pathway as a focal point.

Results: An open source, modifiable, standardized, template was produced. The template has been made available to ADVICER members and is available on the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) website at: https://www.aur.org/resources/Template-for-Faculty-Reviewer-Letters-for-Promotion-and-Appointment CONCLUSION: This external referee template has the potential to reduce subjectivity, eliminate bias, and provide a flexible, modifiable, comprehensive faculty review letter template which will be useful for academic faculty, letter writers, and promotions committees.

Keywords: Education; Letter of Reference; Promotion; Radiology.