Mississippi Valley State University December 9, 2013 Dr. Paul Schreiber Assistant Professor of Music Composition, Theory and Technology Mississippi Valley State University Fine Arts 14000 Hwy. 82 W. Itta Bena, Mississippi, 38941 To whom it may concern, 1am writing in reference to Dr. James C. Varn. Dr. Varn and I first became acquainted in the fall of 2004 when he did a presentation at our first faculty meeting of the year. Since then I have had many dealing with him in his capacity of Faculty Development Director. Over the years of working with Dr. Varn, he has demonstrated: Reliability Enthusiasm Very knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects Completes tasks and works well with others Always treats everyone fairly Jim Varn built that Center for Teaching and Learning (Faculty Development) from the ground up. He had very few resources and supporters but has built up the resources and quite a few faculty have used his services over the years. I personally have had a grant funded through his office as well as quite a few travel grants for presentations. Each time he has been very patient with me and focused on what information he needed and exactly what I needed to produce in order to be eligible for funding, Because of his demeanor, he has been a very calming influence on me. I have worked with him on various committees and when he spoke it often had that same calming influence on the entire committee. His work on these committees has been excellent; he has always been reliable and prepared. Jim has been my go to person when I have been tackling subjects that I am not an expert on. He has always been able to point me to the resources that I need to study to complete the task. Department of Fine Arts 1.4000 Hwy 82W#7255 Itea Bena, MS 38941 Office: (662) 254-34863491Ihave attended quite a few workshops that Dr. Varn has put together for the faculty. Some recent topics have been: Assessment, Student Motivation, and Promoting Higher Order Thinking Skills. Each of these workshops gave me new insight on how I can improve my teaching skills. Over the years Dr. Varn has responded to the needs of the faculty and university by sponsoring and/or developing workshops on topics such as, writing across the curriculum, seminars on computer applications, student learning outcomes and assessment using internal presenters, external presenters as well as live and recorded webinars. In addition he has hosted faculty research presentations and conversations in research roundtable discussions so that faculty can become more familiar with colleagues research in other departments. If Jim has a weakness it would be his lack of self promotion. He is better at helping others promote themselves. In summary, you will find that Dr. Varn is easy to work with, thorough in everything he does, shows a willingness to help others (faculty, students, committees, efc.), and has a commitment to his job and the tasks that he is doing. Dr. Varn will be difficult to replace here at Mississippi and I personally will miss him dearly. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, 662-392-6927 Sincerely, Paul Schreiber Department of Fine Arts 14000 Hiwy 82W#7285 Itta Bena, MS 38941 Office: (662) 254-3486/3491