ABOUT CYNTHIA SAUER WEST M.A. and Ed. M. Columbia University B.A. University of Tennessee
Qualifications and Experience
Cynthia's background has been almost completely focused on education. Along with her teaching of English and History, she has held positions as a college counselor, school dean, and high school principal. In addition, Cynthia worked as a speech and grant writer for Princeton University. She is also a Fulbright Exchange Fellow, spending a year at the Antwerp International School in Belgium teaching the International Baccalaureate curriculum and researching World War I and World War II landscape memorials. Following that experience, she created a short documentary video, Remembrance and Reconciliation based on Carl Sandburg's war poem, Grass. Additionally, Cynthia contributed a chapter and video to the iBook, Bringing the Great War Home, produced by the University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and The American Battle Monuments Commission.
For the past 15 years, Cynthia has had the privilege of tutoring and advising students from many diverse backgrounds, and has been inspired by their willingness to take on the challenge of finding their own voice. Some of the schools to which her students have been accepted are Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Claremont McKenna, Columbia, Duke, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Oberlin, Princeton, University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, Stanford, and Tufts.
In her earlier years, Cynthia played competitive tennis and enjoyed a decade as a teaching pro. She is a Life Member of the United States Tennis Association and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and a certified professional with the Professional Tennis Registry. For the last several years, Cynthia has enjoyed working in Media Services for the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tennis tournament.
Cynthia serves on the board of the Palm Springs Writer Guild. When she is not tutoring or writing her first novel, she can be found photographing, biking, hiking, and volunteering for the Disabled American Veterans and for the P.E.O. Sisterhood.
