2011 04 11 COMMEND "Mike Vitale" LETTER

Letter of Reference

April 11, 2011
To Whom It May Concern;
I am pleased to have the opportunity to write this letter of recommendation for Bart Christner. I have known and had the opportunity to work with Bart since he came to Daytona State College. In that time, Bart has proven to be an outstanding faculty member and has always willing to step in and provide photographic or digital media help when needed.
In his classes, Bart would strive to provide opportunities for his students to share their work with a broad audience. He would get his students involved in publishing their digitally produced images in an online component of the Daytona Beach News Journal [www.mytopiacafe,com]. When the College made the decision to sunset the Digital Media program, Bart remained to assist in the teach out and continued to encourage students to publish their work whenever possible.
Bart was a willing team player as evidenced by his agreeing to spend an academic year traveling between Daytona Beach and the Dominican Republic (DR) [FUNGLODE Fundacion Glodel]. As a spinoff of a grant from the DR to help them establish a community college, Daytona State was asked to provide Digital Media training in the DR. To accomplish this, we needed a faculty member who was willing to make the commitment to travel to the DR and remain there for several weeks before returning to the States. This faculty member also had to develop online course components to provide continued teaching and learning to the Dominican students. Bart was that faculty member.
Bart also stepped in and helped the Chair of the School of Behavior and Social Science [Ron Morrison] develop an original artwork for a book he had written on the 1960s. Bart has also contributed his time as a photographer to the Daytona State College Foundation by photographing at events hosted by the Foundation. By hiring Bart, you will be getting a tireless worker, an individual with an entrepreneurial spirit and a team player.
If there are any questions or if would like to further discuss Mr. Christner, please feel free to contact me.
Michael A. Vitale, Ph.D.,
Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs
Daytona State