Dear Ms. Shannon,

This is a note of support for Steve Malcolmson, who is appealing the loss of his Trustee Scholarship. 

Steve was a student in my PY211 Physics class in the Spring semester.
Although Steve received a B- in PY211, his performance on the two midterms and the final exam attest to the fact that he is a much better student than that.

Midterm 1 ranking: 60/289.  Grade level = B+
Midterm 2 ranking  77/289.  Grade level = B+
Final Exam ranking 73/289.  Grade level = B+

The reason Steve was given a B- is that his overall ranking in the class was 118/289. This put him at the top of the B- range, in fact, as the student who ranked 114 was the lowest in the B range.
What pulled Steve down was that there was one lab he did not turn in, a couple of homework assignment he did not turn in, and he missed a couple of in-class quizzes and discussion quizzes. I know Steve was quite sick for a week during the semester, which helps explain why he did not turn those items in. 

Having now had the chance to review Steve Malcolmson's record in detail, I will be contacting him to discuss his final grade in PY211. If he missed a lab and homework assignment because of illness that should not be held against him, and his final grade in the course will be changed to a B. Even that is not a reflection of his knowledge of physics. His work on the midterms and final exam show that he's in the top 25% of the students in the class.

On a personal level, I have always been impressed with Steve whenever I have talked with him. In addition to being a good student he is a likable, personable fellow. The fact that his GPA in the Spring semester was insufficient to keep his scholarship is not, in my opinion, evidence that he's not capable of getting those grades.
He is an intelligent, hard-working student who, I am certain, will get significantly better grades in future semesters. He is clearly bright and capable - I think he really just had circumstances conspire against him this past semester with sickness as well as facing a rather difficult situation with conflict between his parents. 

As I mentioned above, I will be reviewing Steve's PY211 grades with him because I think he clearly deserves better than the B- he received. I hope you will take that into account as you review his case. Steve Malcolmson is a credit to B.U., in my opinion. He's a good student and an upstanding individual, and I think he does deserve a second chance to show that he is worthy of his scholarship.

Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss this matter further.

Sincerely,

Andrew Duffy
Assistant Professor of Physics

Office: PRB-353
Phone: 353-9089
e-mail: aduffy@bu.edu