March 4, 2014 M.Ed. in Higher Education Program Loyola University Chicago, School of Education 820 N.

Michigan Chicago, IL 60611

To Whom It May Concern: I am writing in support of Matthew Cartwright in his completion of the Master of Education in Higher Education at Loyola University Chicago. I had the pleasure of supervising Matt as an intern in LGBTQA Student Services at DePaul University for approximately 80 hours in the spring/summer of 2013. Matt contributed greatly to our office in the short time he interned here and will make a phenomenal higher educational professional. He is task-oriented and driven to succeed, while simultaneously remaining focused on learning in his approach to working in higher education. Matt exceeded my expectations for an intern in every way. He eagerly sought out feedback on projects he worked on and demonstrated great initiative in developing project ideas. For example, he identified a need for clarity in messaging the structure, resources, and programming provided by LGBTQA Student Services. Matts solution was to design an info-graphic describing these components of the program (see attached document). I now use this info-graphic when presenting to groups across campus. It has proven to be a tremendously helpful tool. Another quality that Matt brought to his internship was his keen ability to work well under pressure. Matt interned with me at the end of DePauls spring quarter and beginning of the summer, a time frame that coincided with the end of our fiscal year and point when annual reports are due. During this time I was working on the final report for a year-long divisional assessment project evaluating the student learning that occurs in our Safe Zone training program. I asked for Matts assistance in analyzing some of the data I collected. Using his skills in Microsoft Excel, and teaching himself new skills, Matt entered the survey data and created pivot tables, pie charts, and graphs illustrating the results and trends of the data. He not only crunched the numbers but also demonstrated knowledge of the implications of these findings and helped me develop

plans for improving the program to focus even more on the learning that takes place during the trainings. Combining his graphic design and analytical skills, Matts internship culminated in a reorganization and redesign of our Safe Zone program manual. He reviewed and edited the 50+ page manual, reorganizing it to be more visual appealing and to follow a more reader-friendly structure. His attention to detail and approachability of the material drove this process. The resulting manual has been a great contribution to the program but what I most appreciated was Matts approach to the project. He displayed initiative, working on this project independently while knowing when it was important to check in with me. Matts professionalism, enthusiasm, and creativity made him an excellent intern and will make him an exception higher education professional. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or if you need any clarification on this letter.

Sincerely, Katherine Weseman, M.S. Ed. LGBTQA Student Services Coordinator DePaul University kweseman@depaul.edu