Casey Simon

Department of Residence Life

1032 Sheridan Rd | Chicago, Illinois 60660
p (312) 915-6704 | f (312) 616-3726
csimon@luc.edu

March 28, 2016

To Whom It May Concern:
It is my pleasure to write this letter of support on behalf of Alyscia Raines. I currently serve as Alyscias
direct supervisor and a Resident Director for the Department of Residence Life at Loyola University
Chicago (LUC). While I have only worked with Alyscia since July 2015, my experience supervising and
collaborating with her has been excellent.
As a second year graduate student, Alyscia has taken on a great deal of responsibility within her roles. I
began my role as a Resident Director midway through the summer in a building that does not close
throughout the year and my predecessor left the position one month prior to my arrival. Therefore,
someone needed to supervise the summer program and manage the building during this interim period.
Alyscia flawlessly stepped into this leadership role. While I technically supervise Alyscia, I have heavily
relied on her leadership skills, mentorship capabilities, and knowledge of the building to learn my role as
a new Resident Director. She has surely proven herself as a capable and adaptable student affairs
professional; so much so that I consider our relationship more of a partnership, rather than a supervisorto-supervisee relationship.
While I have worked with Alyscia over the last nine months, I have continued to be impressed by her
commitment to cultural competence. She brings her passion for social justice and inclusion into every
aspect of her work. As an Assistant Resident Director, Alyscia works with our undergraduate Resident
Assistants to mentor them as they face difficult situations in their role. Although this work can be
draining, Alyscia finds a way to discuss difficult topics related to social justice to ensure that her students
develop their cultural competence in new ways. Alyscia also recently created and implemented a social
justice development program for our student leaders. So far the program has been very successful
allowing our students to learn and grow in new ways as we have approached the end of the academic
year. Alyscia has also pushed herself to continue the development of her own cultural competency by
joining campus partners and reaching out to other student organizations to participate and offer support.
Alyscia has also taken initiative to further her professional development while balancing a full academic
course load and her role as an Assistant Resident Director. For instance, Alyscia has taken the initiative to
partner with the Director of Assessment for the Division of Student Development in an effort to develop
her knowledge and skills related to assessment. This volunteer commitment is outside of her academic
requirements and her assistantship role. Similarly, Alyscia has worked with fellow graduate students and
her professors to conduct research about the experiences of black female alumni at predominantly white
institutions. She presented this research at a conference in November 2015. Her continued involvement in
this research only demonstrates her commitment to this field and her ability to be a great professional who
can help any department and/or institution improve its practices.

Given her many commitments, it would seem difficult for any person to balance and juggle the demands
of their work. Alyscia has done a wonderful job balancing all of these endeavors while also maintaining a
happy and sustainable life. She is a role model for maintaining balance and staying committed to
wellness, which is a hard feat in the field of student affairs.
While I have only worked with Alyscia for less than a year, I feel incredibly lucky to have her on my
team. Her passion and ambition for the field of student affairs is truly inspiring. I have no doubt she will
move on to do great things in this field as she already has in her work at LUC. Alyscia would be a
wonderful asset to any team. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

Casey Simon
Resident Director Baumhart Hall
Loyola University Chicago
csimon@luc.edu
312.915.6704