Some of you know I'm kind of hypervigilant about spelling. I can't help but wonder what a committee would think of a letter of recommendation with "students" incorrectly spelled to include an apostrophe. Wow.
Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:07 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie <[email protected] > wrote: > But what leads you to the conclusion that Professor Smith's letter of > recommendation of Ted Bundy was not based on personal observation of his > actual behavior? It sounds like it might have been a quite accurate > description of what the professor observed in the context of teaching Ted > Bundy. How do we know this was inaccurate or over confident? > Marie > > > "Mr. > |Bundy is undoubtedly one of the top undergraduate student's in our > |department. ... He is exceedingly bright. personable. highly motivated. > |and conscientious.... He has the capacity for hard work and because of > |his intellectual curiosity is a pleasure to interact with.... I > |recommend him to you without qualification:' > > > > Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. > Associate Professor l Department of Psychology > Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College > Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 > Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 > http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Michael Palij [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 1:36 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Cc: Michael Palij > Subject: Re: [tips] Charging students for letters of recommendation > > On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:25:03 -0800, Paul Brandon wrote: > >My policy was that I would only commend on things that I knew first hand. > >So even if students wanted to give me autobiographical information I > >would not accept it. That alternative would have been to do more fact > >checking than would have been practical. > >So, if my only contact with a student had been in the classroom, the > >letter would be very short; I let them know this. Some wanted the > >letter anyway, others took my advice to find people who knew them better. > > If a student who has only taken a courses with me asks for a letter of > reference, I tell them that all I can talk about is what they have done in > class and that they can get stronger letters from people who have > supervised them in research or fieldwork or clinical service and so on. > We can only get thin slices of student behavior in classes and I think > that it is not prudent to attempt to talk about characteristics of students > outside of the contexts we work with them or to rely upon their own > statements of what they have done. > > I have referred to the point made below on TiPS before but it is useful to > keep it in mind. Here is a quote from Robert Keppel's book "The Riverman": > > |Trust Bandit > | > |Throughout Ted's life. he constantly stole everyone's trust. He conned > |the best. One such person was Professor Ronald Smith of the University > |of Washington's Psychology Department. Professor Smith once wrote in > |Ted's behalf for law school admission: "Mr. > |Bundy is undoubtedly one of the top undergraduate student's in our > |department. ... He is exceedingly bright. personable. highly motivated. > |and conscientious.... He has the capacity for hard work and because of > |his intellectual curiosity is a pleasure to interact with.... I > |recommend him to you without qualification:' Ted proved that attending > |college full-time was not an impediment to his murderous compulsions. > | > |Serial killers are very knowledgeable of the areas they operate in. > |They literally kill in their own backyards or, as others have written. > |they live and move about among their prey. > (Page 422) > > This book is available on books.google.com; see: > > http://books.google.com/books?id=QtrLm4J6A9gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22ted+bundy%22+letter+reference+%22university+of+washington%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VUu2UKi1FaS-0AGOg4DIDw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=professor&f=false > > Now, some teachers may suffer from extreme forms of hubris and arrogance > in that they think that they "really, really" know who and what their > students are like and what they can do. I have no doubt that Prof. Smith > above thought he knew who and what Ted Bundy was but this is just another > example of unjustified over-confidence in our judgment. Which, of course, > Ted Bundy relied upon in order to get away with his murderous activities. > > So, while there is a low probability that you will write a letter of > reference for a serial killer (but how one would know?) it probably best to > base judgments on actual behaviors we have observed rather than our > inferences of what a person is like or what they are likely to do in the > future. > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [email protected] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a4468797f&n=T&l=tips&o=21953 > or send a blank email to > leave-21953-13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a44687...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=21961 > or send a blank email to > leave-21961-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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