December 2014
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a general letter of recommendation for Dr. Barbara Bridges.
I am the Coordinator of the PEDL (Professional Education Distance Learning) teacher licensure programs and initiatives for the Professional Education Department at Bemidji State University.
My professional association with Dr. Bridges is as her colleague and Program Coordinator. Dr. Bridges actually designed and launched both existing distance teacher licensure programs at Bemidji State. She is a fully promoted and tenured Professor and has served as both my colleague and mentor for the past 2.5 years. In that time we have worked to re-launch the FasTrack Secondary licensure initiative, co-taught in 5 semesters, served together on multiple committees, and worked extensively with our faculty both in the Department of Professional Education and the Bemidji State Community at large. She has shown herself to be an amazing teacher and a consummate professional throughout all. Dr. Bridges will tackle any task, no matter how daunting. She has been of enormous value to education in the State of Minnesota and at BSU and has made countless contributions to Bemidji State over her tenure there because of her willingness to “roll up her sleeves and get to work.”
Dr. Bridges is gifted in many ways. However the one overarching descriptor I could apply to her work and service both at BSU and in her personal life is “vision.” She has a true talent for seeing “the big picture far down the road.” She has actualized this gift time and time again as an agent of change by creating and delivering programs and instruction that serve marginalized populations. She is also a gifted artist, who creates visions for others to enjoy. She reaches out in her professional and personal lives, both, to promote social justice and change. Thus, she has been an inspiration to thousands throughout her life and career in education.
As an online instructor, Dr. Bridges is one of the true pioneers; bringing online instruction to Bemidji State and the United States as she developed the first online teacher licensure program in the nation. She constantly continues to modify her digital design to engage and challenge her students. Her creative instructional delivery has inspired thousands throughout the course of the ensuing 17 years. She is known to all her students as a fair, albeit rigorously expectant instructor, who has fashioned engaging online courses, packed with dense curricular content, such as Foundations of American Education, Human Relations, Critical and Creative Thinking Skills. She has, at one time or another taught almost all SEP courses for the Professional Education Department digitally. She does this in a way that is so memorable to her students that they identify her, her instructional delivery, and incorporation of social justice as what provided them with the drive to continue in a highly rigorous course of study. A true Constructivist, her promotion of cognitive dissonance for many students may be THE defining hallmark of their educational experience through PEDL at Bemidji State University.
It is with no hesitation whatsoever that I offer Dr. Barbara Bridges my highest recommendation for any online or on-campus position for which she may offer her service. She also has the same recommendation for any other position she may wish to pursue in the future. She has gained my respect and full confidence as she has always served collaboratively and presented herself to be a professional who always puts her students first. I wish her nothing but the very best as she enters her first phase of retirement.
I am available to answer more questions or visit further about Dr. Barbara Bridges qualifications and talents. Please feel free to call me at 612-804-1526 if you would like to visit.
Sincerely,
Coordinator of PEDL and Assistant Professor
Box 35 Bensen Hall
Bemidji State University, Bemidji Minnesota
612-804-1526