The Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department Personnel Committe has evaluated the materials that you have submitted for promotion. I am pleased to inform you that the Committee recommends that you be promoted to the rank of professor.

The Committee considers your teaching effectiveness to be excellent. Your students hold you in high regard. You have successfully developed a research program, as demonstrated by the significant number of graduate students that have completed thesis under your supervision. You have received the 2010-2011 SDSU Distinguished Professor Award. The recognition of your teaching effectiveness at the campus level is clear proof that you are among the best teachers in the university.

The Committee considers your professional growth to be excellent. Your research in clastic soil mechanics is pioneering, and clearly shows that you are in the forefront of your chosen field. The record shows that you have published five refereed journal papers in the past two years. The papers have been published in well recognized and prestigious journals in your field, such as Granular Matter, ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Chemosphere, and ASCE Geotechnical Testing Journal. Journal. This substantial level of productivity, both in the classroom as well as in the laboratory, attests to your outstanding capabilities as a teacher-scholar, endorsing the SDSU model.

The Committee considers your service to be excellent. You have served as chair of two important SDSU University Committees, notably the Senate Task Force for Revision of RTP Policy, but also the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee. Your service as departmental graduate advisor for the past five years attests to your willingness to serve the students and department in an effective way.

In summary, the Committee finds your teaching effectiveness to be excellent, your professional growth to be excellent, and your service to be excellent, and wholeheartedly recommends your promotion to professor. The Committee congratulates you on your efforts, and looks forward to your continued progress.

You have the right to submit a response or rebuttal in writing to this letter of recommendation. If you choose to submit a written response, it must be delivered to the departmental office by October XX, 2011 using the response/rebuttal form available from the Faculty Affairs website (http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~facaff/newrtp.html)

Sincerely yours,

Victor M. Ponce

Chair, Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department Personnel Committee

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