Letters of Recommendation

If you need a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and you have taken classes from me and done well in them or worked with me in some other capacity, I'm happy to help out. However, if you have worked more closely with some other faculty member, a letter from that person is more likely to be useful to you.

Along with your request, please send me an email with the following as separate attachments: copies of whatever documents you plan to submit to the organization to which you are applying. (I'll send all letters directly to the organization to which you're applying if you send me an editable list of names and addresses.) Please also include a curriculum vitae and a confidential memo addressed to me that notes your strengths that you would like emphasized. This memo should not be a draft letter of recommendation, but instead should include a list of items you want to make sure I remember whenever I sit down to start writing. These items can include how I got to know you and standard curriculum vitae or resume items (prizes won, etc.), but should also include relevant anecdotes that might make useful stories to illustrate characteristics of you or your work (e.g., solved a problem in five minutes that Stepick had been working on full time for six weeks). This is not the time for modesty. In addition, if there is something negative on your record (such as if you were in undergraduate or graduate school for too long), include a plausible explanation for what happened, if there is one. (I will treat this memo in confidence and will destroy it after I draft my letter).

Please email all of this to: Stepick@fiu.edu

As much lead time as you can provide would be appreciated.