TENURE AND PROMOTION LETTERS -- a thread. I'm currently on my R1 university's committee for tenure and promotion, which means I'm reading a lot of external letters written by scholars at other universities evaluating our folks. I have some suggestions.

Be a great discussant at an academic conference! A few thoughts:

1. It's not about you and your work and your brilliance. Place the papers front and center. It's helpful to the presenters and the audience if you can ID some common themes or put them in dialogue with each other. 2. For a grad student, it's a great chance to see how someone outside the bubble of the committee reads the project. React to the ideas and the evidence. Don't dwell on the organization or presentation style.