Sandra “Sandy” Zaslow ’87 EDD was a perfect fit for NC State Extension, with its drive to ensure that the knowledge gained at the university is shared throughout the state. Whether she was working to educate people about the dangers of radon in their homes or leading efforts to strengthen the Family and Consumer Sciences department, Zaslow ensured the university’s reach went well beyond campus.

“She just had a really strong drive to help communities,” says Sarah Kirby, a professor emerita who works part time as director of strategic initiatives for NC State Extension. “She was always looking for opportunities to further the department and the work we did.”

Zaslow, who retired from NC State in 2006, died in February. She was 79 years old.

Former colleagues describe Zaslow as a determined, creative and supportive leader in her three primary roles at Extension: housing specialist, regional district director and department head. She was a second-generation Extension employee — her father had worked there as a graphic designer.

“She loved going to counties, working with local field faculty and solving problems at the local level.”
— Carolyn Dunn

Carolyn Dunn, the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Department of Agriculture and Human Sciences, says Zaslow once told her that working as a district director was her favorite job at Extension. “She loved going to counties,” Dunn says, “working with local field faculty and solving problems at the local level.”

The most lasting of Zaslow’s contributions, though, may have come from her work as head of the Family and Consumer Sciences department. The unit was staffed predominantly by women while operating within the historically male-dominated College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “She was very interested,” Dunn says, “in making sure that faculty were treated fairly and not disregarded.”

Zaslow fought to ensure that her female colleagues were paid comparably to male colleagues in similar roles and sought to boost the department’s stature by leading an effort to establish a master’s program. Karen DeBord, a professor emerita, was the first director of the department’s graduate program. “She was good at that fight,” DeBord says, “and represented us well at that table.”

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