Kinnunen, Sylvia

Sylvia Kinnunen was born in Lake Linden, Michigan, on August 24, 1920. She graduated from Dollar Bay High School in 1937 and attended Northern Michigan State Teachers' College. Kinnunen received a B.S. degree from Northern Michigan College in 1953 and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1954 and 1957, respectively. Kinnunen began her teaching career in a one-room school house in Rousseau, Michigan, and also taught elementary students in Alston, Massachusetts. She joined the faculty at Northern Michigan University (NMU) in 1956 and retired from NMU as a professor in the Department of Education in 1981. During Kinnunen's tenure at NMU, she established the Committee for Women in Academe, the predecessor of Committee W of the NMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Silvia Kinnunen died on July 25, 2005.