Sara Alpern

Sara Alpern Tarlow, known as Sara Alpern (born September 10, 1942), is an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University, known for her specialization in women's studies.^[2]

Early life

Alpern is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is the daughter of Rene R. Alpern (1916–2010) and Philip Alpern (born ca. 1915) of El Paso, Texas, and formerly of Pittsburgh. Alpern is a sister of Louis Max Alpern, M.D. (born ca. 1948), also of El Paso and like his sister reared in Pittsburgh.^[3][4]

Alpern graduated in 1960 from Taylor Allderdice High School.^[5] In 1964, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her Master of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles followed in 1968, and she obtained the Ph.D. in social and intellectual history from the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland, in 1978.^[6] Thereafter, she moved to College Station, Texas, to join the TAMU history faculty.^[7] In 2005, Alpern received the "Teacher/Scholar" Award from the TAMU Honors Program.^[8]

Career

She is the author of Freda Kirchwey: A Woman of the Nation, published in 1987. In this title, "the Nation" refers to The Nation magazine, which Freda Kirchwey, a persistent crusader for liberal causes, edited between 1933 and 1955.^[9] Alpern is a contributor and co-editor with three other historians of The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women, a 1992 collection of ten essays on various feminist figures. Her contribution to the anthology is entitled "In Search of Freda Kirchwey: From Identification to Separation."^[10]

She has written on women's suffrage, the history of eating disorders among women, and the history of women in management. She has penned articles on cosmetics magnates Estee Lauder and Helena Rubenstein for Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Her 2005 article entitled "Harriet Williams Russell Strong: Inventor and California Businesswoman Extraordinaire" is part of an ongoing book manuscript on the history of women in business.^[11]

Personal life

Alpern, who is Jewish, is married to Rabbi Peter E. Tarlow (born 1946), who holds a Ph.D. in sociology and is a specialist in tourism and counter-terrorism. He is the long-term director of the Texas A&M University Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.^[12] Alpern has a son, Joshua Frager,^[9] and two stepchildren, Nathaniel L. Tarlow and Lysandra 'Lysie' Tarlow.^[12]

References