The UCSB Writing Program in the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is proud to announce the 2025-2026 M. Garren Tinney Travel Award Recipients: David Andrew ‘28 (Environmental Studies & History), Noble Culpepper-Hawkins and ‘25 (Communications), and Karen Su ‘25 (Economics and Communications & Journalism). Thanks to the M. Garren Tinney Memorial Fund, talented students each year receive an award to support travel related to their writing.
The M. Garren Tinney Travel Awards recipients were selected by a committee of Writing Program faculty from a pool of strong applicants, each with interesting travel plans. According to the M. Garren Tinney Memorial Fund Committee Chair Robert Krut, “As was the case last year, we were amazed by the scope and passion of UCSB students for writing—and how it connects to the world at large. The proposed projects were all interesting and showed great potential, reminding us once again of the incredible talent on campus.”
The award winners will use their travel award in the coming months.
● David Andrew is currently working on a paper in Scotland, examining the sociocultural effects of the North Sea herring collapse on local fishing communities. With the travel funds, he will travel across the East Neuk of Scotland to locations such as the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, to take advantage of materials that are only locally held.
● Noble Culpepper-Hawkins is currently studying abroad in Japan and will use the funds to assist in writing and creating a short film focused on this experience. As she explains, “my goal for creating this short is to increase the 5-6% of Black students who participate in study abroad programs. Knowing the impact of representation and how powerful storytelling is, this grant would be an investment into the story I want to share and the possibility of more Black students immersing themselves in new cultures abroad.”
● Karen Su will use the funding to attend the ACP Spring National College Media Conference in San Francisco. Having worked closely with UCSB’s Word magazine, this conference will provide a valuable opportunity to meet with industry professionals as well as other students from across the area.
In loving memory of Michael “Garren” Tinney ‘01 (L&S English), Donna “Dee Dee” Tinney—Garren’s mother—established the M. Garren Tinney Memorial Fund at UCSB in June 2023 to honor her son’s interest in and passion for writing. The Fund provides numerous opportunities, now and into the future, for UCSB undergraduate students committed to writing and who have an interest in pursuing writing-related careers. In addition to the M. Garren Tinney Travel Awards, the fund supports the M. Garren Tinney Writing Fellows (which were announced earlier this year) and three separate M. Garren Tinney Writing Awards. Each of the Tinney Writing Awards are managed, respectively, by the Writing Program, UCSB Department of English, and the Writing & Literature program at the College of Creative Studies.
M. “Garren” Tinney came from Oklahoma City to UCSB as an English major and continued his studies at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Garren passed away on December 7, 2019. Garren valued free speech, education, and above all else, using the written word as a means to communicate the many insights he garnered over 41 years as a survivor of grief and student of the human condition. Over the course of his short life, Garren prided himself on his multifaceted occupational pursuits. He worked in politics in Washington, D.C., entertainment in Los Angeles, journalism and public relations in Manhattan, New York, and finally achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a writer in Pasadena, California, completing dozens of short stories, novellas, and novels.
