March 27, 2014 Student Development Administration College of Education Seattle University To Whom It May Concern: Please accept

this letter of recommendation for Sophie Boyer. I have known and supervised Sophie as a graduate assistant in the Academic Advising Support Center since September 2012. We have worked together on a number of important college and university projects and I have found her to be an effective leader and a caring advisor with a high degree of professional promise. As an advisor in the AASC, Sophie works primarily with first and second year students who have declared majors in Psychology or Political Science and/or are exploring different major and minor opportunities. In this role, she works closely with students to develop positive and supportive relationships, assisting students in creating educational goals and developing holistic academic plans. She advises students for registration and supports the registration process while communicating complicated information about university policies, procedures, and requirements. She is responsible for monitoring her students academic progress and counseling students who face academic difficulty. The AASC is a fast-paced office Sophie assists in overseeing operations, seeing students on a drop-in basis and providing customer service and support to students, staff, and faculty. Sophie is also one of the primary pre-law advisors at Seattle University. She shares the pre-law advising load with me and Professor Angelique Davis. For her part of the Pre-Law Program, Sophie hosts quarterly workshops and presentations, advises students individually, and collaborates with SU law representatives and area pre-law advisors and mentors. Sophie is excellent at handling complex and challenging situations and has the ability to synthesize information and explain it in a clear fashion for students and faculty/staff alike. She does not upset easily and that is an asset for her as she finds herself working with constituents that may be unhappy or upset by the information she shares with them. She keeps a smile on her face and remains calm in the face of challenges and concerns. This is not to say that Sophie does not experience great emotion she does and that is very clear to students; but her emotions are expressed in a very professional and balanced fashion. Sophie takes a caring and thoughtful approach to her work. She is approachable and thoughtful and challenges students to consider their academic and personal experiences in a broader context. Sophie is an amazing listener. When meeting with students, she listens intently to their concerns and questions she is part of their story and party to their discussions and feelings. She develops rapport with students and gives them the chance to be really heard and understood. In her work as an advisor, Sophie is
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES Office of the Dean 901 12th Avenue P.O. Box 222000 Seattle, WA 98122-1090 www.seattleu.edu/artsci Tel.: 206.296.2840 Fax: 206.296.5997

adroitly able to be present in her appointments while also navigating the requirements (timing, topics to discuss, etc.) of the appointment and/or drop-in. Sophie is mature beyond her years. Although not an extrovert, she confidently interacts with people from a variety of background, ages, and experience level. She is also composed and skillful at asking difficult questions of taciturn or unhappy students/faculty/or staff, corralling socially awkward pre-law mentors, and working with unresponsive faculty. She is diligent and respectful in her approach to all of the above, and colleagues and students respond to that. Sophie is a big-picture thinker and has the ability to understand the role her personal actions play in the broader context of a students experience. She is a natural leader in the office even though she often takes a quieter approach to office politics. She strives for deep understanding, synthesizes information, and asks questions. She brings members of the AASC team together in office-related activities like staff trainings and professional development opportunities as well as in social gatherings. Anyone can plan a happy hour or team meeting, but Sophie has the ability to think about individual needs and ideas and thoughtfully plans for how to meet those needs. At this point, Sophie is not sure that her career lays in student affairs. She came to SU considering career related questions and has spent the past two years on an intentional journey of personal and professional discovery and reflection. I have enjoyed being present for parts of that adventure and want to applaud Sophie for becoming increasingly more comfortable with the idea that she may never come to a final conclusion about what she wants to do for the rest of her life. She is open to many possibilities and is learning that careers are often made up of what happens as we explore different opportunities. I have been very impressed with Sophies professionalism, wisdom, and student-centered focus - she will be a leader in whatever field she chooses to pursue. I have enjoyed working with her and I will be sad to see her leave our office upon graduation in June. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have regarding this letter.

Sincerely,

Kate Elias, Ph.D. Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs College of Arts and Sciences Seattle University