Dr. Sara Dillon, professor of law at Suffolk University Law School, was inducted into the Saint Michael's College Alumni Academic Hall of Fame at ceremonies held on the campus of the liberal arts residential Catholic college in the Burlington area of Vermont on January 23.
"The life path and career of Sara Dillon, graduate of the class of 1977, is testament to the richness and value of a liberal arts education," cited the presenter in awarding Professor Dillon this honor.
Professor Dillon graduated summa cum laude from Saint Michael's, and went on to complete a master's degree in English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She later earned an MA and PhD at Stanford University in Japanese studies, and was an Assistant Professor of Japanese at University of Pennsylvania, before attending Columbia University Law School and graduating with honors in 1993.
Before Law School, Dr. Dillon published a novel in Japanese, and then spent a summer doing anti-death penalty legal work in Montgomery, Ala. At Columbia Law she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for each of her three years as a student, while also interning with Legal Aid of New York City.
Pursuing a career that reinforces the values of service taught at Saint Michael's College, Professor Dillon became an advocate for the voiceless. Her 2002 book, International Trade and Economic Law and the European Union, and her many scholarly articles and book chapters address the problems of global sex trafficking, children's rights, inter-country adoption, child labor and world trade.
Professor Dillon resides in Arlington, Mass., with her two children.
The citation concluded saying, "Saint Michael's is humbled and proud beyond words to induct Sara Dillon into the Saint Michael's College Alumni Academic Hall of Fame."
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.