A Mentor of Students

I met Bill in 1980 shortly after I moved from Michigan to Ventura County. I was 25 years old, had no formal education and no aspirations to pursue a colligate path. That changed when I met Bill through the Ventura College SCUBA program. Our friendship grew as a result of our shared passion for diving and exploring the marine waters of the Channel Islands. Bill encouraged me to enroll in several of his biology/ecology classes at Ventura College and he seemed to recognize an academic potential in me that I myself failed to see. I truly loved his teaching style and he had a unique ability to motivate students and foster student's interest in the biological sciences. I continued my academic pursuits in the field of marine science including a Masters degree and I believe it was the result of Bill's mentoring and guidance that I was able to recognize my academic potential. I clearly remember a conversation I had with Bill where he described the most satisfying aspects of his teaching career is mentoring and inspiring students. He loved tracking students as they progressed through their academic achievements and made great efforts to maintain friendships and communication with so many students as they progressed through their career paths. When I asked Bill for a letter of recommendation for graduate school, he conveyed to me that writing recommendation letters and serving as a reference for students was one of his most important and satisfying responsibilities as a teacher. His reference letters were thought provoking, and clever, and I suspect helped many students achieve admittance to universities or land the job they were seeking. I kept the recommendation letter Bill wrote for me 30 years ago and thought I would share it with you here. Thanks for the letter Bill, it worked.