Elesebeth Rodgers is recommended for admission to the MFA program in Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher and is an award-winning writer and editor. The letter writer describes her as a deft author who skillfully develops characters and dialogue. She was also an excellent editor for her peers as part of her graduate certificate in publishing and editing. The letter writer believes she would make an excellent candidate for the MFA program and graduate teaching assistant based on her creative writing, editing abilities, and engaging personality.

1. December 8, 2015
The Creative Writing Program
Department of English
Arizona State University
PO Box 870302
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302
Dear Masters in Fine Arts Admissions Committee:
I am indeed pleased to recommend Elesebeth Rodgers for admission to your MFA program in
Creative Writing, Fiction. Mrs. Rodgers is a highly experienced high school and college
classroom teacher and an innovative researcher. Furthermore, Beth is an adept editor and an
award-winning writer. She is a natural candidate for your program.
Mrs. Rodgers earned her BA in English and her BS in Education at the University of Nebraska in
1980. For two decades, taught high school English and government courses in Nebraska,
Virginia, and Florida. She earned her MA at the University of West Florida in 2012 and has
taught freshman composition and developmental studies at UWF and Pensacola State College for
several years. She is currently teaching high school English at Pensacola Catholic, waiting until
the time was right to work toward her MFA in fiction. Mrs. Rodgers is a lively and energetic
teacher and writer and, among other honors, won the graduate student fiction and graduate
nonfiction writing awards at UWF in 2011. I have read both her children’s and adult fiction. It’s
apparent why she has won awards for her writing. She is a deft, nuanced author who anchors her
characters believably in time and place and captures layered dialogue effectively.
I came to know Beth when she began commuting from Pensacola to FSU to pursue our Graduate
Certificate in Publishing and Editing. I became her Certificate advisor and taught her in ENC
5217─Editing Manuscripts, Documents, Reports, and Articles. Beth not only proved to be a first-
rate editor of her fellow students’ texts but also exhibited a warm and supportive presence in the
classroom. I divided my workshop into Editing Circles of five students; Beth’s Circle could not
wait to gather around her in each of our class meetings, sharing professional anecdotes and
swapping draft ideas. Mrs. Rodgers is an extremely personable woman, fully engaged with her
fellow students. She also demonstrated careful attention to details of diction, style, tone,
structure, logical coherence, and the active voice. Beth exhaustively marked her peers’ writing
projects for grammar, punctuation, and usage and helped her colleagues recast phrases,
sentences, and paragraphs and rethink assertions or assumptions that needed fuller support. Beth
parlayed her editing coursework into a paid internship, writing and editing for Bella Magazine in
Pensacola. She finished our Certificate in Publishing and Editing fall 2015.

2. p. 2
One of Beth’s writing goals in my workshop was to fine-tune an ambitious pedagogical toolkit—
a detailed, hands-on set of library and online guided-research instructions for freshman
composition students. Beth termed it her Electronic Note Cards project. I suggested that she also
take the core material from her full explanatory booklet and publish it in a front-back physical
bookmark format. She did just that, and now Kendall-Hunt has published her copyrighted
notecards as sturdy, plasticized bookmarks that students keep by their computers and
conveniently carry to the library. I found her guidelines appropriate for sophomore through
senior students, too; in fact, they are drawing quite a bit of attention among her peer teachers at
UWF and Pensacola State College.
A born creative writer, editor, resourceful researcher, collegial and immediately likable
professional whose energy is contagious, Beth Rodgers is an excellent MFA prospect and would
make a first-rate TA, also. I give her application my strongest endorsement.
Best,
Dr. Bruce Bickley, Professor of English, Emeritus
Government and Corporate Trainer, Consultant, and Editor
417 Williams Building
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1580
rbickley@fsu.edu