2008 11 13 APPRECIATE "Rich Grego" LETTER

Letter of Reference

• November 13, 2008
• Barton Christner, Associate Professor
• Department of Digital Media
• Daytona State College
• Bart:
• I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your professional assistance and encouragement on a number of levels since we both began our careers here two semesters ago. Your consideration and camaraderie have been invaluable to my professional success here thus far and, I’m sure, to the academic success of many students here as well.
• Your contribution to the Philosophy Club on a weekly basis, for instance, has been instrumental to the effectiveness of what we know has been the most popular and interesting club at DSC this year. I realize that you’ve devoted an enormous amount of personal time to this endeavor--but the students have benefited immeasurably from your mentoring and advise. This is the kind of informal rapport that makes the community college experience unique for both students and faculty (I certainly never had the opportunity for this kind of interaction with faculty when I was a student!), and it is this kind of rapport that sets DSC’s educational experience apart from less student-centered schools. Thanks also, for your contribution of photography and media advise during all of our events---including the interviews/filming for Channel 15 and for the News Journal. No one else had this kind of expertise and we could not have done this (at least, not as well) without you!
• This has also been true of your own students, from what they’ve told me. In my classes, at the SGA Banquette (Thanks for the photography there too!) , and at Club functions, I hear time and again about the professional projects with the News Journal, etc, that you’ve created for your students in connection with your courses. These kinds of projects offer students a level of experience that must be tremendously beneficial to their educational and career development, and that they would never have access to at any similar institution. The College itself, of course, has no doubt benefited from your developing, coordinating, and teaching the Photography Program here and in Ireland, as well as the Media Program in the Dominican Republic. Although these must have been great experiences (that I definitely envy), “their gain was our loss” and your students and colleagues here missed your active presence back here.
• Finally, on a more personal note, I also want to thank you for agreeing to participate in the University Club along with several of our colleagues. I realize that this is yet another ’officially’ unacknowledged investment of your time (and money) in support of our community, and I want to assure you that my Department Chair (Doug Peterson) and the other faculty involved in the Club have appreciated your presence. So again, be assured that the students and colleagues who are aware of your activities here, appreciate very much the many contributions that you make to enrich our academic community and our overall ’quality of life’ at DSC. You can be confident that those here who really know you are grateful for all you’ve accomplished thus far.
• Sincerely,
  
• Dr. Richard Grego, Associate Professor
• Philosophy, Religion, Cultural History
• Department of Humanities and Cultural Arts
• Daytona State College