April 24, 2017

To Whom It May Concern,

I am thrilled and honored to write this letter of professional promise for Jalen Smith, a member
of the Class of 2018 and an aspiring educator. During the time I have known Jalen I have found
him to be an intelligent, insightful, and committed person. I sincerely believe Jalen is having,
and will continue to have, a positive impact on the students and colleagues he engages.

I had the honor of supervising Jalen during his SDA Preview Days internship. This particular
internship is especially important to the SU College of Education in general and the SDA
program in particular, because Preview Days is the Universitys opportunity to engage
prospective graduate students. During this multi-day event, prospective students have the
opportunity to learn about the University, the SDA graduate program, and interview for
graduate assistantships that are primarily based at SU. The interns serving on the Preview
Days planning team and play a critical role in developing, implementing, and assessing the
event. Jalen played a key role in recruiting and training volunteers. Identifying and working
with the volunteers is vital to the success of Preview Days because these students interact
heavily with the prospective students. While we want current students to be honest about
their experiences in the programwarts and allwe also want current students to be tactful.
Jalen was able to communicate this to his peers and help them effectively balance what can
sometimes feel like competing interests.

In addition to working with volunteers, Jalen also helped manage the teams social media
platforms which served as a key communication tool. In this role, I found Jalen to be
responsive to the needs of a variety of constituents and willing to adjust his plans in order to
meet these needs. This willingness to help, the ability to be flexible in the moment, and the
genuine commitment to the success of the team helped bring about an event that was nearly
flawless. I am genuinely saddened that this experience had to end.

I have told Jalen that I believe he is more than capable to achieving any goal he sets his mind
to in the field of higher education. His wisdom and experience will be appreciated by future
students so, in the not too distant future, I not only hope to hear that he has enrolled in a
doctoral program, but that he will at least become an adjunct faculty member in a college of
education.

I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for Jalen and am honored to have had
the privilege of working with him during his graduate school experience. I look forward to
having him as a colleague and to watching his career blossom over the coming years.
Sincerely,

Tim Wilson, Ph.D.

Assistant Vice President & Interim Dean of Students
Division of Student Development
Seattle University