ES AMERICAN UNIVERSITY VAS HIN GTON, DO December 10, 2008 Thave known Kimberly Bryden since August 2007, when she enrolled in my Public Relations class. Kim quickly stood out as a bright, energetic and enthusiastic student who loved responding to academic challenges. For her campaign analysis paper, Kim dissected the ‘marketing efforts behind the 2007 SILVERDOCS documentary film festival. She effectively demonstrated how the campaign successflly expanded the “Independent Thinkers Welcome” theme to drive up audience attendance and increase media coverage. For her final paper, Kim was required to create her own strategic communication campaign, and she choose to develop a partnership between American University's School of Communication and the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. Her paper showed that she had mastered critical strategic communication concepts and the importance of reaching out to targeted audiences. My relationship with Kim did not end there. In January 2008, Kim enrolled in my Public Relations Case Studies class where students were required to work in groups to analyze effective and disastrous communication campaigns, and to create their own broader effort. Her group elected to prepare a campaign for the U.S. Olympic Committee to promote attendance at the Beijing games. Kim was the only member of the group to take on the more difficult task of creating an actual public service announcement to accompany the group's proposal. The final result was a lively, engaging PSA with music and visuals that effectively captured the spirit of the ‘games. She also designed the panda logo for her group’s campaign. Kim is a strong critical thinker with a passion and talent for the arts. She understands how powerful and useful images can be in capturing the attention of audiences in a fragmented media environment. I highly recommend her for your program. Please contact me should you need any additional information, Sincerely, Und hyetible Wendy Melillo Assistant Professor School of Communication American University 202/885-1753 melillo@american.edu SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION 4400 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, DC 20016-8017 202-885-2060 FAX: 202-885-2019