To whom this may concern,

My name is Daniel Reischer, and I am a recent graduate of SUNY Cortland, the former
Vice-President of the Student Government Association, and a nominee for the Chancellor’s
Award for Student Excellence. It is my pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Dr.
Michael Tillotson to full professor. Below I hope to explain how he has been the most impactful
professor I have taken classes with at SUNY Cortland. I first met Professor Tillotson in the Fall
of 2021, when I took his course titled “Dimensions of Racism.” In the following year, Professor
Tillotson has served as a mentor to me in both the classroom and in my graduate school search.
It is important to note that when I signed up for the Dimensions class, I had no idea what
to expect. The course was a pilot, never taught at SUNY Cortland before. I had also never taken
a course in Africana Studies, and only registered because it was cross-listed as a Political Science
class, which was my major. On the first day, we dove into the material immediately after
introductions and started taking notes. This came as a shock to many of my classmates and I, as
we were working at a level of rigor on the first day that we were rarely, if ever, exposed to in
other classes. This kicked off a semester of intense, yet deeply informative lectures. Despite the
sensitive nature of the subject material, Dr. Tillotson made clear that the class will examine
emotionally laden material empirically. Even still, Dr. Tillotson gives students the space to
express their thoughts on the topics being covered so that everyone feels heard. He keeps up a
rapport with the students in his classes and goes out of his way to ask us about our lives, other
classes, and our well-being. I spent last semester working in the Writing Center, a position that
Professor Tillotson recommended me for, where I had sessions with many of his students from
his Intro to Africana Studies Class. These students all spoke highly of him as not just a brilliant
instructor, but as a genuinely kind and caring person.
My experience in Dr. Tillotson’s classes has led to me to re-center my academics and
thus improve myself as a student and scholar. Under Dr. Tillotson’s guidance, I won first place
in the National Council for Black Studies’ Terry Kershaw Undergraduate Writing Competition
out of submissions from around 300 colleges and universities, as well as SUNY Cortland’s
Outstanding Writing Awards. SUNY Cortland published an article as linked here, which shares
what both Professor Tillotson and myself saw during the development of the paper, and the final
result. I felt challenged, but supported, as Dr. Tillotson would always be available to students
who need assistance. The writing assignments in his classes have allowed me the freedom to
truly grow as a writer. At the beginning of my college career, I really stalled out in reading
outside of the classroom. Dr. Tillotson however made clear just how important reading was to
the writing process. This has motivated me to read more in the last year than in the four or so
years prior. One of the pieces of advice he gave me that will always stick with me regarded what
I should bring with me to my future grad school apartment—yes, apartment, not department. He
told me “If you can’t eat it or read it, you don’t need it.”
Speaking of graduate school advice, it is impossible to overstate how much Dr. Tillotson has
helped me figure out what I am doing after graduate school. Before his class in 2021, I was lost. I
considered public policy work but feared that it would not be fulfilling. Dr. Tillotson introduced
me to academia as a possible career path. He helped me recognize how rewarding the writing
and publishing process can be. He was the first professor that I had that openly believed in me
and thought that I had the potential to succeed in the academy. Professor Tillotson’s immense
passion for teaching has shown me how valuable this profession is to students’ wellbeing. As a
mentor, he has supported and challenged me in my graduate school search when I doubted
myself and questioned my qualifications. It makes me want to serve my students the same way in
the future.
Today, as I write this, I am awaiting responses to my applications to PhD programs in
American Studies and Africana Studies. I want to make clear that I would not be where I am
without Dr. Tillotson’s teaching and mentorship. In his time at SUNY Cortland, Dr. Tillotson has
inspired many students, of which I am clearly one. He deserves every opportunity to continue
this as a Full Professor.

Sincerely,
Daniel Reischer
SUNY Cortland, Political Science ‘22