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\signature{W.~Trevor King}
\address{120 Miller Street \\ Highlands, NJ 07732}
\telephone{+1 215 284 6634}
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\begin{document}

\begin{letter}{Olympic College Human Resource Services \\
  College Service Center, Fifth Floor \\
  1600 Chester Avenue \\
  Bremerton, WA 98337-1699}

\opening{Sir or Madam,}

Thank you for reviewing my application for the position of Professor
of Mathematics at Olympic College.  Over my years working on my
Ph.D. studies at Drexel University, I have been looking forward to
teaching at an undergraduate-oriented college.  I look forward to
working at a school such as Olympic which clearly has a strong
commitment to teaching excellence and teacher training.  Besides
teaching math, I am also interested in advancing the science of
teaching.  Over the past year I have been active in the
\href{http://software-carpentry.org/}{Software Carpentry}
organization, which trains scientists around the world in current
software development and data management techniques.  Software
Carpentry
\href{http://software-carpentry.org/bootcamps/2013-02-uwash.html}{recently}
\href{http://software-carpentry.org/blog/2013/03/washington-went-well.html}{ran}
a boot boot camp at the University of Washington, and I look forward
to continuing this outreach in the Puget Sound area.

While I have not yet been in a position to design my own courses, I
have enjoyed building some supportive tools.  Over the past several
years, I have developed an open source
\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/}{course website
  framework} and
\href{http://git.tremily.us/?p=course.git;a=tree;f=asymptote;hb=HEAD}{graphics
  libraries} for illustrating
\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/Mechanics-test.svg}{mechanics},
\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/ElectroMag-test.svg}{electricity
  and magnetism},
\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/Circ-test.svg}{circuits},
and
\href{http://blog.tremily.us/posts/Course_website/stickfigure-test.svg}{stick
  figures}.  I've also designed the
\href{https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pygrader}{pygrader} framework for
collecting and grading homework assignments that students submit via
email and the \href{https://pypi.python.org/pypi/quizzer}{quizzer}
framework for managing online quizzes and surveys.  These tools will
make it easier for me to maintain class notes, homework, tests, and
lecture material, which gives me more time to focus on engaging
students directly.  Downloadable class notes also give students more
time to focus on the concepts and applications instead of focusing on
transcription.  I look forward to tying these pieces together and
building cohesive courses to introduce new students to mathematics.

I have always had a strong interest in math, and early in my career I
was able to devote enough time to the subject to double-major in math
and physics.  I have especially fond memories of my number theory and
formal logic courses at Colgate, as well as complex analysis during my
semester in Wales.  As I advanced through my graduate training, there
was less time to devote directly to formal math, but I taught myself a
good deal of statistics in support of my research (especially the
Gumbel distribution\citep{king10,king13}).  Physics and math are bound
tightly together, and I look forward to returning to the analytical
side of this pairing.

As a scientist, I feel that teaching itself can be improved through
the scientific method.  By testing the effect of different classroom
approaches---and by building on the research of my peers---I intend to
gradually refine my teaching to improve student engagement, critical
thinking, and content retention.  I am especially excited to try
active learning approaches\citep{hake98,crouch01,prince04}, especially
thinking-aloud pair problem solving
(TAPPS\citep{lochhead87,felder09}), which has been shown to increase
student performance\citep{johnson99}.  Of course, not
\emph{everything} can be measured with sufficient clarity to support
this approach.  Developing quantitative evaluations of student
learning is tricky, but---at least at a basic level---it is possible.
Mentioning these difficulties when discussing course organization with
students will provide jumping-off points for discussing the
limitations of the statistics, the scientific approach, and the flavor
of scientific progress, while avoiding confusion about the
well-understood fundamentals covered in the content of the course
itself.  Several Software Carpentry collaborators (especially
\href{http://michigancomputes.wordpress.com/}{Cait Pickens}) are
experts in assessment design and validation, and between their
experience with standard practices and my talent for software tooling
and rigorous analysis, I expect we'll develop a robust system for
monitoring student progress.  By promoting this system in our own
research and SWC outreach, we can also spread the practice of teaching
research through the wider academic community.

On a more prosaic level, I am excited about moving from the
mid-Atlantic---where I have spent most of my life---to the Northwest.
Starting in the Fall, my wife Emily will be opening a veterinary
surgery practice at the \href{http://olympiapetemergency.net/}{Olympia
  Pet Emergency} hospital in Olympia.  After years of commuting
several hours from our current home in New Jersey to Drexel in
Philadelphia, the chance for jobs that are only thirty minutes apart
is quite appealing\footnote{
  The job description emphasizes responsibilities on the Shelton
  campus.  Weekly runs up to Bremerton will not be a problem, but it's
  probably a bit far for a daily commute.  If Bremerton access is more
  critical, please contact me and I'll see what I can work out.
}
My wife is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and I have enjoyed our
annual summer trip out to visit with her family.  I also look forward
to the drizzly climate, as my Northern European heritage has not given
me much protection against the sun.  Being able to enjoy the outdoors
(sailing and hiking!) without having to slather on the sunblock sounds
like a good idea to me.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via phone or email if you need
any additional information.

\closing{Yours,}

\end{letter}

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