Professor, Department of History
College of Arts and Sciences
Sara Lipton first arrived in our department in 1998; I was the chair at the time. She had been teaching at the College of William and Mary for a few years, so she was still relatively junior. No matter. She immediately leapt into the job with enthusiasm, boundless energy, and professional commitment. Within two years she became the department’s director of Undergraduate Studies. She almost immediately attracted large numbers of students to her courses in medieval history. She soon had a stable of graduate students of her own, and the hall outside her office was perpetually lined with students wanting to see her.
In the years since, Sara has embraced the role of engaged university citizen. I have observed with admiration how she has personally mentored dozens of students; never — and I mean this as the highest praise — as a parental figure, but always as a professional exemplar. As a faculty member she has taken on difficult and often highly contested issues, both within the department and in the university overall, always playing a leadership role, and always doing so without making herself the focus of attention. You can’t do better than that!
– Gary Marker, professor emeritus of History
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