Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

UNC Charlotte Distinguished Alumna - Anne Tompkins| Alumni Video

30 Dec 2022 · 3 min

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2:42

The alumni video spotlights Anne Tompkins, a UNC Charlotte graduate whose career has been defined by a deep commitment to public service. Speakers A and B describe her progression from Assistant United States Attorney to United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, emphasizing her professionalism, compassion for victims, and steadfast belief that no one is above the law. Tompkins recounts volunteering to serve in Iraq, where she and fellow prosecutors operated from the Green Zone, traveling by helicopter under fire and wearing bullet‑proof vests, an experience she cites as a lesson in perseverance. She also served as vice‑chair of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Committee, underscoring her dedication to civil‑rights enforcement. Beyond her legal work, Tompkins founded a scholarship for first‑generation college students, inspired by her own transformative experience at a small‑campus UNC Charlotte. The video weaves together her professional achievements, personal values, and ongoing connection to her alma mater.

Chapters

Ann, over the course of her entire professional life, has demonstrated a real commitment to public service, both as an Assistant United States Attorney, as serving as the United States Attorney in North Carolina.
She is very professional in her dealings with the jury, with the defendant, with the court. But she's also very compassionate with the victims of some of the worst crimes that we see.
I'm a believer in people. I've always liked the idea of community and being part of something bigger than me, and I think that that's why I ended up being drawn to public service.
She very much stands for the proposition that— of the rule of law, that no one's above the law.
You know, I think about Ann as an AUSA volunteering, for example, to go to Iraq. There are not many people who necessarily would raise their hands for that in service of the Department of Justice then, but Ann did.
When they would travel from the Green Zone to one of the crime scenes, they would have to fly because of the danger of driving, and they encouraged all the prosecutors to sit on their bulletproof vests. Because the shots at the helicopter would come from the ground.
I do really draw back to those days and draw from my experiences there to know just keep on putting one foot in front of the other and, and keep going. It's sort of a perseverance thing.
Now, Ann has, has been committed for a long time not just to justice, but but also to civil rights and served as the vice chair of the United States Attorney's Office Civil Rights Committee.
It's just in me to be trying to work towards making the world a better place. So the scholarship that we've done is for first-generation college students, and it's to make sure that we give an opportunity to a person who might not otherwise go to college. It transformed my life. And we wanted to transform other people's lives. I came to UNC Charlotte so many years ago and it was such a small little place. It feels like we all knew each other. And to watch it grow to this amazing campus and to be recognized by UNC Charlotte is very, very, very special to me.