Writer in Edmonton, Alberta

To Whom It May Concern: I am writing this letter in support of Mr. Nikita Sleptcov. I am particularly well suited to recommend him for this undertaking. I served as his graduate professor while he completed his MA at the University of Louisville before he began a doctoral program at the University of Alberta. I was his research methods professor, his supervisor for an internship with the Kentucky General Assembly (the state legislature), and I supervised an experimental research project of his. He is really an outstanding young man. Concerning his scholastic achievements he has been a stellar student with many notable accomplishments. He came to the University of Louisville graduate program in political science on a Fulbright Scholarship. After arriving, it was clear why he got this prestigious award. He has a solid background in social science, is passionate about his work, and has a bright mind. The University of Alberta also recognized his capabilities; they have been fully funding his doctoral education. The quality of his work in my class and his drive to understand the science of what we do are both exceptional. He showed a real interest in applying rigorous methods to the questions that interest him. He built a research design project in my class centered on measuring the comparative effects of values on welfare state attitudes across the US and Russia. His design could serve as a model for introductory graduate student efforts. Both in his paper and in class generally, he seemed completely engaged and motivated to understand important epistemological and methodological concepts. He not only had substantive interests but was inspired by methodological questions. He is driven and his drive is not off-putting. It seems grounded in a genuine inquisitiveness. He carried the skills he attained in his research methods class, along with this inquisitiveness to create an experiment attempting to measure the effects of media framing on Russian students’ attitudes about gay rights. In particular, he aimed to test whether a “Western frame” in a newspaper article would structure subjects’ attitudes. He took a real Russian news article, and added a frame in it that characterized gay rights as a Western issue for his treatment, then had the same article minus the frame as a control, and designed a post-test questionnaire to measure treatment effects. After obtaining IRB approval for human subjects research, he used a Russian version of Survey Monkey to conduct the experiment by forwarding a link to a large group of Russian students at various institutions in Russia. He completed the data collection process and managed to obtain a sizable sample. He analyzed the data next and presented his research at a conference in the spring of 2017. As I mentioned above, I also served as Mr. Sleptcov’s supervisor for an internship. He did an outstanding job working in Frankfort as a legislative assistant. I know the legislator he worked for was quite pleased with his performance. The staff in the office he worked for also spoke highly of him. He is responsible and represented himself, the political science department, and the university well at the capitol. Mr. Sleptcov is quite unassuming given that he is clearly one of the brightest that I have had. Given a choice, I would much prefer that trait to its opposite. I think that he sets very high standards for himself, and is willing to put in the work to reach those standards. That combination of intelligence, high expectations, and a pleasant disposition should serve him well in any venture. I highly recommend him. Thank you for your consideration. Respectfully Submitted, Jason Gainous