Cynthia J.K. Smith

Cynthia Smith is the Assistant Director of the office of International Students and Scholars at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Her focus is to work with programs that connect the international students with the campus and community. Cynthia started working officially in International Education in 2000, but long before was involved personally. She especially enjoys working with student growth and leadership. She is a former teacher and has created several training programs in her office for volunteers, the iFriend program, and International Culture Team. Cynthia is a campus coordinator for International Education Week, International Women’s Day, Plaza de las Americas, the Human Library, USA Day, and Cultural Immersions. She also coordinates other collaborative programs on campus and in the community. Cynthia has been a presenter at three NAFSA Campus and Community Programming pre-conference workshops through the Trainer Corps, as well as presented for state, regional, and national NAFSA conferences. She has two fortunate kids who have enjoyed studying abroad while they were in college. Her husband, children, supervisor, and ISS Team are great supporters of her work and she includes them as recipients of this award as well.

Cynthia Smith received NAFSA’s 2023 Hugh M. Jenkins Award for Excellence in Community Programming.