The letter recommends Fred Vela for a database internship. It states that Fred performed well in the professor's database course, working hard to understand assignments beyond what most students do. Fred consistently submitted high quality work and contributed useful comments during lectures. The professor believes Fred would greatly benefit from real-world work experience through the internship opportunity. He recommends Fred without reservation and believes Fred is the kind of employee he would want on his own team.

1. Dan Tappan, Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science – CEB 319F
Eastern Washington University
Cheney, WA 99004
19 February 2013
Re: Database Internship Recommendation for Fred Vela
This letter is in enthusiastic support of Fred Vela's application for the database internship you advertised
through Stu Steiner. I have known Fred for a little over one quarter in the Computer Science program at
Eastern Washington University. I am new faculty here (although in my eighth year as a professor), so I am
unable to comment personally on his work before this time. Nevertheless, I have consulted with other faculty,
and they concur that he is definitely one of our stronger students. I had him in my introductory database
course, CSCD 327, where he performed very well, near the top of 32 students.
Fred worked hard and made special effort to understand my assignments beyond what most students do. My
teaching philosophy reflects real-world expectations of industry, and in particular, critical-thinking and
communication skills. My problems are usually open-ended, with the expectation that students will ask for
clarification and elaboration, etc. Most do not, but Fred understands this process and performed well as a
result. His work was consistently of high quality in content and presentation, which was refreshing because it
aligned so well with what I want students to practice. In fact, he was a joy to have in class because he
continually interacted and contributed useful commentary to my lectures. Whenever I posed questions to the
class, I could be sure that if nobody else answered, Fred would have something insightful to say. I got the
impression that he really enjoys databases, especially the real-world applications we spent so much time on.
My course used MySQL from the command line for most database interaction, along with one assignment to
bridge to it from Java. We did touch on MySQL Workbench toward the end, but I prefer students to
understand how everything works without the help of a friendly GUI, which they can easily adapt to later.
Not only did we thoroughly cover the primary elements of relational databases, like joins, grouping, ordering,
triggers, and so on, but we also invested a significant amount of time in understanding the role of databases
in the larger context of system architectures. Several of my assignments targeted practical examples of data
collection, analysis. and visualization. We also had a unique opportunity to look into a breadth and depth of
considerations in web development. I was building my new course management system (at shelby.ewu.edu)
throughout the quarter, and I frequently showed what goes on behind the scenes, especially the core role that
the database plays. We also addressed a substantial range of security considerations, from an overview of
information assurance down to common database vulnerabilities.
Fred has great potential as a computer scientist. He would benefit greatly from an opportunity to do
meaningful, real-world work outside of the classroom, which your internship would provide. Having been a
small-business owner in this field, I can say with conviction that he is the kind of employee I would want on
my team. He not only has practical knowledge and skills, along with a well-established work history, but he
also has the ability to learn on his feet and perform well without having his hand held. In addition, he is a
nice, friendly guy to have around. His potential to benefit from your internship and to contribute to your
workplace is highly promising. I recommend Fred Vela without reservation.
Please feel free to contact me at dtappan@ewu.edu for more information.
Dan Tappan, Ph.D.