Cindy is the heart of the Philosophy department: not just because of her warmth and welcoming nature, but because she energizes and facilitates all aspects of our department endeavors. In the past academic year, for example, Cindy organized and executed no less than four academic conferences: the first was an Ancient Philosophy conference to celebrate the work of recently retired Dan Graham. Second was a Bioethics conference—a first-time conference that almost fell through except for Cindy’s speed and efficiency in putting things together. Third was the LDS Theology Project conference (which also celebrated the retirement of Jim Faulconer). And fourth, and by far the largest, was the five-day International Hume Society conference. Cindy did all this alongside her normal responsibilities as the department admin.
Cindy approaches all her tasks with courage and cheerfulness—in this way she is an uplifting force to any activity that she’s involved in. This is likely why she currently serves as the chair of OPAC (and previously was the vice-chair) as she fearlessly reaches out and works well with people across the university. She leads with enthusiasm, diligence, and commitment to the mission of the university. Most important is how Cindy works with students: she knows their majors by name, works with the student clubs, helps with TAs and RAs, celebrates student’s victories, and sympathizes with their challenges. Her work is a blessing to the students.
Cindy is fully competent in all aspects of scheduling courses, travel, doing expenses, hiring, managing a budget, and so forth. It is impossible to imagine being a chair without someone like Cindy who knows how to work the many diverse systems and procedures at BYU. Cindy is thrifty. For example, she is always excited to "get a deal" when buying refreshments for a student activity. The same holds for buying a faculty book. She will search the internet to find the best price. It is not in Cindy's work description to plan and run academic conferences. But she can do it and does it very well. Cindy is a natural with teamwork and networking, a natural because she is friendly and cares about other people. She's amazingly inclusive, kind, and respectful.
Daily interactions with Cindy best exemplify her commitment to Respect and Belonging for All Individuals. So often you hear of breaking down the silos in academia, and Cindy is doing that one person at a time by getting to know everyone, and not just those within her department. She has increased the collegiality of our college and has made others feel a greater sense of belonging outside of our various departments.