Richard S.

Normington Dean Continuing and Online Education Dean of Business Harold Walter Siebens Entrepreneurship Chair Sierra Nevada College 999 Tahoe Blvd. Incline Village, NV 89451

March 26, 2014 RE: Dr. Robert King Esteemed Colleagues: This letter communicates my personal recommendation in regard to Dr. Robert Kings candidacy for the rank of Associate Professor. I first became aware of Dr. King when he began teaching with SNC as an adjunct in Fall, 2010. Early on I began hearing from students about his effectiveness as a teacher, especially from advisees who told me they wanted to save room on their schedule for a class with him because they enjoyed his teaching so much. Since my advisees are all Business majors, such requests caught my attention. After several such instances I inquired about him among colleagues in the Humanities Dept. as well as with Humanities students I knew well. Universally they indicated we had acquired a winner when he was hired. I nominated Robert for the Distinguished Teaching award in 2012 and apparently wasnt the only one to do so as he ended up as that years honoree. Before discussing my specific thinking about Dr. Kings candidacy, allow me to summarize my frame of reference for the benefit of readers who know me only through SNC, especially since I personally hold the faculty rank of only Assistant Professor. Before I began my current career in higher education, I spent eight-odd years as owner/principal consultant of an independent business consulting firm focused on enterprise strategic planning, technology integration, and process improvement, most of my clients being school districts, universities and educational technology firms. Before that I spent thirty-years with Pacific Bell and AT&T in a wide spectrum of professional, managerial, and executive positions. I retired in 1998 following a corporate acquisition, having held senior management positions in corporate strategy, sales and marketing, and public policy. I also served as Managing Director/COO of a joint venture of two multinational corporations based in the UK. Immediately before retiring, I was Vice President - Public Sector Business Unit, which addressed the information management and system needs of all government and K-16 education accounts in the state of California, a group of 2500-odd employees and a revenue base of over $1B. Since affiliating with SNC, Ive also served two terms as a Trustee of the Desert Research Institute, and continued as an advisor to the UC Office of the President pursuant to the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) a role I have enjoyed since co-founding the program in 2000. Ive also served on the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, and been an education advisor to California Governor Pete Wilson, several college presidents, the UC Berkeley School of Library and Information Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences Math Science Education Board, the California Board of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The above foundational background has shaped my perception of the criteria for professional success in the educational arena. This is the lens through which I view Dr. Kings contributions, and accordingly endorse him as an exceptional teacher and academic professional.

Dr. Robert King Page 2 Teaching Effectiveness My assessment of Robert as a superior teacher is based on student reports, his receipt of the 2012 Distinguished Teaching award from faculty peers, my review of ten end-of-course surveys, and a recent personal class visitation. Although I believe he needs to continue developing his use of active learning techniques (as I have discussed with him), by all other teaching metrics he is exceptional. Dr. Kings students, several of whom I have spoken to directly, appear to overwhelmingly agree. Advising Effectiveness I have no data with which to assess this variable. Scholarly Research and/or Professional Development My assessment of Dr. Kings performance as a scholar is based on the body of his contributions to research evidenced by the numerous authored/co-authored papers documented on his curriculum vita, his various visiting scholar appointments, and his many invitations to present his work and speak at prestigious institutions throughout the US and Europe. His command of the content in his Western Civilization course and his ability to draw correlations to current events as well as other disciplines (including the sciences) is indeed impressive (to wit: his characterization of the operation of nation states as the thermodynamics of social metabolic reproduction). In balance, his contributions in the scholarship variable would be exceptional in any university, but are especially so among the SNC faculty at large. Service to SNC and the surrounding community Dr. King has made superior contributions to the image of SNC as a high quality academic institution through his voluminous invitations to speak at institutions of higher learning. Indeed, I suspect that he delivers more such presentations per year than most educators do in an entire career. In addition, Roberts co-leadership of the Honors program has resulted in numerous members of the Tahoe area community observing superb examples of SNC student scholarship from all disciplines. Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, reinforced by the documentation in his portfolio, I strongly endorse Dr. Robert Kings application for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.

R. S. Normington
Richard S. Normington 775-831-1314, ext. 7440; cell: 775-233-3571 rnormington@sierranevada.edu