Guilford Professor of History Emerita Sarah Malino, who inspired generations of Guilfordians as a faculty member from 1979-2013, died Sept. 7.
Sarah was an early and ongoing advocate of the Women’s Studies (now Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies) program and an active member of the Greensboro community. She specialized in U.S. social history, women's history, public history and the history of race, class and ethnicity. She was well versed in economic, business and labor history, foreign policy, Native American history and the U.S. global impact.
Recalling her career in a History Department newsletter two years ago, Sarah wrote that "Moved by the Civil Rights Movement and new scholarship on Black History and Women’s history, I decided to pursue a graduate degree in U.S. history, to learn how to recreate the narrative of the U.S. past by including ordinary people, enslaved people, working class folks and women of all ethnicities and social classes as central actors in the story."
She worked with several former and current faculty members, alumnae and students on a collaborative research project of the origins, evolution and impact of 40 years of the Women’s Studies program for a 2013 celebration that coincided with her retirement. She chaired the History Department and served on many college committees.
Sarah was active as a Jewish faculty member connecting students to the local community and supporting campus opportunities relating to Jewish faith and practice. She was involved with the Greensboro Jewish Federation, Beth David Synagogue and B’nai Shalom Day School and recently chaired the Triad Jewish Film Festival.
She was a founding board member of the Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro and a member of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Guilford County Anti-Racism Alliance. In addition to her full-time teaching and community involvement, she raised three children.
Sarah graduated from Wellesley College with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and from Columbia University with master’s degrees in Philosophy and History and a doctorate in American History. She began her career teaching history and philosophy at the Robert Louis Stevenson School, a private high school.