Dr. Julianna Flinn has been named Community-Based Big Sister of the Year by Arkansas Big Brother Big Sister of Central Arkansas.

Flinn, UALR’s interium chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, won the University’s $5,000 Faculty Excellence Award for Service this year. An anthropologist with a Ph.D. from Stanford, Flinn has personally worked with nonprofit organizations for more than 30 years.

She served as a member of the local American Red Cross Disaster Action Team and assisted with shelter operations and fundraising. Through a Fulbright Award, Dr. Flinn lived in Belarus and had the opportunity to study the indigenous culture. When she returned, her experiences there led her to develop a workshop for Little Rock teachers on the culture of Belarus.