Letter of Support from KSM - Past Director of ICL
February 13, 2009
Dear Admissions Committee
I am delighted to write this letter in support of Josephine Tsui’s application to the Sauve Scholars. Josephine is very bright and motivated and has incredible determination to improve social and economic policies. I am confident that she has the commitment and the personal and academic abilities to be a successful candidate.
As the Director of the Mills College Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL), a semester-long academic and experiential program focused on women’s civic leadership, and as Josephine’s teacher in our Institute’s women’s studies course, I have had a chance to get to know her well and to see first hand her intelligence and her dedication to analyzing and researching the systems that shape our society and their impacts on individuals and communities. Since Josephine completed our program two and a half years ago, I supervised her development in successfully completing a grant project which our Institute funded because of the strength of her proposed project. I have also maintained contact with her informally as she completed her education and moved on to her current work. In all of these interactions, I have continued to be impressed with her intelligence, analytical abilities and determination.
One of the qualities I find most striking about Josephine, which I believe makes her such a strong candidate for the Sauve Scholars is her seriousness of purpose and incredible determination to master what ever she takes on. She seems to have endless energy to learn and is one of those rare students who, on her own initiative, stayed after class wanting to identify additional readings or to follow up on ideas that we discussed. She is also extremely organized and that is reflected in her clear thinking and good judgment. Given the rigors of graduate school, I trust that her intelligence, energy and commitment will lead her to excel.
Additionally, in my experience, she is rare among all the students I have worked with over the years in her ability to bridge different disciplines. Her undergraduate degrees embraced both science and the social sciences, and yet she enthusiastically and successfully engaged in our program, which had strong women’s studies and literature components. Even though these were newer areas to Josephine, she did well and seemed to relish engaging deeply. She was able to think creatively about our material and help other students see connections and synthesize ideas across different fields.
Another basis for my confidence in Josephine is that she is hard-working, resourceful and not easily deterred by obstacles. As a part of our program, she worked in an organization with strict rules about the role of interns and the type of work they could do. Although Josephine initially found some of the requirements restrictive, she persisted, came up with creative ways to negotiate with her supervisor, and eventually was allowed to expand her responsibilities to explore additional work that was fulfilling to her. She took initiative in broadening her responsibilities and completed both her originally assigned work and the project she designed. She exhibited these same qualities of initiative and determination in designing and completing her year-long grant project that we funded. She was dedicated to her work, worked independently to complete it, and ultimately presented her study very powerfully at a conference we held. In fact, I have never seen Josephine give anything less than all of herself to her endeavors. She is outstanding in this way.
Finally, on a personal level, Josephine is a caring and thoughtful woman with excellent communication skills. She presents herself and her ideas well, whether in a small group or in larger public settings. And she is very capable in working with others over time. She pays attention to others’ needs and is responsive and encouraging. In ICL, she developed close relationships with other students and was a valuable part of the community, confident in working in a group but also respectful of her peers. I am convinced that her kind and steady personality will make her an asset in her class.
In short, I think Josephine is a wonderful candidate and recommend her highly. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of help in any other way with her application.
Sincerely,
Kristi S.M. J.D.
Past - Director
Institute for Civic Leadership
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