The Extraordinary Service to the University Award honors faculty members, staff members, and friends for noteworthy service to the university.
Cynthia Tinker
Cynthia L. Tinker has served as the Program Coordinator for the Center for the Study of War and Society since 2001. She manages all day-to-day operations, the Veterans Oral History Project, and the World War II archival collection.
A native of Gatlinburg, she served from 1988 to 1992 as an aircraft electrician in U.S. Air Force Special Operations, enrolled at the University of Tennessee on the G.I. Bill in 1996, and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and minor in Biology.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
The military service tradition of our state and the university are the rock on which we stand in freedom.
I am unceasingly inspired by the stories of those who gave their lives in past world wars and by the veterans I have gotten to know over the last 20 years, many of whom were also UT alumni. Preserving the memory of their Volunteer spirit and sacrifice encourage me personally and professionally to encourage the students at the center to take on the world as a proud Volunteer.