Karen Berg served as a Graduate Assistant at Loyola University Chicago for two years. Her manager, Terri Thomas, provides this recommendation letter. Thomas states that Berg was motivated, self-directed, and enthusiastic about serving students, particularly those from marginalized groups. Berg regularly communicated with a diverse population of students, parents, faculty and staff to provide exemplary service. She also mentored 12 student employees, creating a structure for their professional development. Thomas was impressed with Berg's hunger to grow as a higher education professional and recommends her highly.

1. February 25, 2015
To Whom It May Concern:
I am honored to recommend Karen Berg. I have known Karen for the past two years working together at Loyola
University Chicago, where Karen served as at the Graduate Assistant in Student Academic Services.
In my role as Karen’s manager, I found her to be motivated, self-directed, and enthusiastic about her service in higher
education, particularly in serving students from traditionally marginalized groups. In Karen’s role, she regularly
communicates with a diverse population including prospective and current students, parents, faculty, and staff members
in order to provide exemplary service in resolving problems and connecting to campus resources.
Karen’s abilities to think critically, adapt to changing circumstances, and implement administrative processes that lead to
efficiencies has contributed to her success in her assistantship. The Student Services Hub is, by nature and design, at the
center of several moving pieces of the campus. Karen actively fostered relationships with campus partners to strengthen
the level of collaboration and understanding of programs, services and processes. She served as an active member of
the team and assisted her colleagues on a regular basis.
One of Karen’s biggest strengths is communication. In both her verbal and written work, Karen takes great effort to be
an empathetic listener, use clear and inclusive language, and provide information in meaningful ways. Karen’s
responsibilities include counseling students and families about financial assistance and their student accounts. This can
be a challenging topic for some families, but I have observed Karen take the time and care necessary to ensure students
felt heard, understood their options and next steps in the process. Her interpersonal communication and emotional
intelligence is clearly an asset.
One area in which Karen particularly excelled was in supervising and mentoring twelve student employees who work at
the Student Services Hub and the Sullivan Center Welcome Desk. Karen embraced her role as their supervisor,
coordinating hiring, training and evaluations. She created a staff meeting structure that focused on the student
employees’ professional development and cohesion as a team. She also created a regular e-mail update to keep
students informed of processes and events in the Sullivan Center so that they can best serve our guests.
In the second year of her two-year assistantship, Karen actively sought out new experiences and opportunities for
challenge. She joined two subcommittees of the Loyola Experience Implementation Committee, and helped develop an
assessment plan as well as a training program for campus partners. I was impressed with the quality of Karen’s work, but
even more by her hunger for knowledge and experiences that helped her grow as an effective higher education
professional.
Karen has developed the skills necessary to thrive as an educator – she is empathetic, understands effective processes,
quickly learns new technologies, and is highly effective in her communication and interactions with students, faculty and
staff. I have particularly found her commitment to social justice and her enthusiasm for community development to set
Karen apart from other graduate students I have worked with. As such, I highly recommend Karen Berg.
Sincerely,
Terri Thomas,
Director, Student Academic Services
Student Academic Services
6339 N. Sheridan Road | Chicago, Illinois 60660
Mailing Address: 1032 W. Sheridan Road | Chicago, Illinois 60660
Phone 773.508.7700 | Fax 773.508.7777