DATE???

To Whom It May Concern:

On behalf of the Graduate School and the more than 10,000 graduate students whose interests we represent, I would like to express our formal appreciation to Dr. Mary McKinney, Clinical Psychologist, for her substantive contributions to the broad range of academic services that we provide to our graduates students.

Dr. McKinney has played a pivotal role in helping us to establish a comprehensive series of workshops for graduate students, especially doctoral students, that covers a wide variety of issues and obstacles that can and do interfere with their progress toward their degrees. Our workshops cover a broad range of topics, such as the challenges of writing, time management, literature reviews, resources for new doctoral students, alternative career options, making effective presentations of your work, how to find and get funding, parenting workshops - just to name a few.

Dr. McKinney came to us with considerable experience in counseling doctoral students. Moreover, she had developed and offered her own 10-week Dissertation Skills Workshop through the University's Psychological Clinic, to excellent reviews. This experience was key in helping us to develop workshops that could deal with some of the major psychological obstacles of the dissertation process that can hold students back - e.g., writer's block, procrastination, dealing with the "perfectionism trap," staying motivated and on time, organizing and managing time, fear of failure, fear of success, etc.,.

From the very beginning, Dr. McKinney's workshops were a rousing success. Her comprehensive knowledge of the problems that doctoral students face, added to her own experience as a doctoral student, were tremendous assets that enabled her to offer presentations to which students could immediately relate. In addition, her presentations were always upbeat and pragmatic, generously illustrated with practical tips and strategies for dealing with problems and obstacles. Dr. McKinney's style of presentation is warm and welcoming, and she rapidly established rapport with her audiences, large or small.

Dr. McKinney's workshops have invariably received outstanding evaluations from students, and it is clear that her efforts have made a lasting impact on them - to this day we still get rave reviews from students who attended her workshops.

Last, but not least, Dr. McKinney is also computer savvy, well able to put together her own PowerPoint presentations and produce eye-catching flyers, complete with graphic work. She offers a very complete package.

Sincerely,

Earl Lewis
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs - Graduate Studies
and Dean of the Rackham Graduate School