May 10, 2004

Dr. Sherry Ralston 
Director of Human Resources 
Monroe Community College 
1000 East Henrietta Road 
Rochester, NY 14623

It is my pleasure to recommend Stephanie L. Brooke for employment with your college.  I have known Ms Brooke since the spring of 2003 in my capacity as the Director of the Online Program at Cayuga Community College, a part of the State University of New York. Her credentials were excellent and were approved by the Academic Chair in the Social Science Division as well as my office for a position of adjunct instructor in the area of psychology.  

Along with directing this program I am also the trainer for all new faculty teaching in the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) system.  Therefore I worked closely with Stephanie to support her development of the Intro Psychology course she has been teaching as well as the Abnormal and Child Development courses that she is teaching starting this spring. I have also monitored her course and will be evaluating her performance regarding online teaching. My initial observation indicates that the students are engaged and learning and that Ms. Brooke has created an effective teaching presence in her courses.  Ms. Brooke came to us with such a depth of experience in online teaching that she was the best new faculty member I have ever had the opportunity to train.  We now offer about 50 courses per semester, and have 40 faculty teaching online at CCC with about 3 to 4 new faculty and courses per semester.  I can honestly say that her courses show the maturity and academic integrity of best practices in the online environment.

Student evaluations of her courses are uniformly excellent.   One student, a thirty-eight year old mother of three, in response to the question asking for any suggestions to make her course better said:

 “…none… you are a great teacher - wish they were all as good as you. Thank you for all your help this semester it was great being part of your class.”  

Another student, a young single mother of two toddlers said:

“Honestly, I think that you did a great job with everything. You did a good job managing the course and you always participated in the course discussions too. I like how you would come up with questions for the class to answer just by reading a student's response to the original discussion question. It made the course very interesting and I learned a lot from taking this course.”

Stephanie’s students in her Psychology courses gave her 100% outstanding evaluations, something I have never seen before from any faculty member.  Her rapport with all of here students, especially the non-traditional women in her courses is exemplary, and helps the college to fulfill its role in providing universal access to higher education.

She is very disciplined and cognizant of the need to follow all the deadlines and procedures for the academic timeline.  I believe she will continue to be an important contributor to our online program and know she will be of great help to you as well. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Ed Kowalski, Director, Distance, Evening and Special Programs
Continuing Education
Cayuga Community College
197 Franklin Street
Auburn, NY 13021
Ph: (315) 255-1743