Sad News: Laura Goldin
March 3, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
I am sad to share that Laura Goldin, Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, passed away on February 2, 2023 in Austin, Texas. She leaves behind her daughter Katy Anna Smith and husband Wes, grandchildren Kaylee and Levi, sister Deborah Meyers and brother-in-law Roy, and two nieces, Yael Lisa Meyers and partner Seth, and Sarah Meyers and husband Benjamin, along with grandnephews Abraham and Eli.
Professor Goldin was a member of the first class of women to enter Yale College, receiving her BA from there in 1973 to be followed by a JD from Cornell in 1978. Prior to coming to Brandeis in 1996, she served as General Counsel of the Department of Environmental Protection of Massachusetts and as Senior Environmental Counsel for Digital Equipment Corporation.
Together with Attila Klein, Professor Goldin established the Environmental Studies minor in 1995-1996, and in 2007 she was the driving force behind the creation of the major. She later established the Environmental Studies internship program. With her decades of work as an environmental lawyer, she endeavored to find internships for students that fit their personal goals and strengths; her program became a template for similar programs at Brandeis. She co-created the Environmental Field Semester (the model for the JBS program), and created the Environmental Health and Justice Community Field Semester. She also contributed generously to key University committees, serving (to name a few) on the University Advisory Council, the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee (which she chaired), and the Experiential Learning Committee.
In 2007, Professor Goldin established the Housing Advocacy Clinic for WATCH (Waltham Alliance to Create Housing). She trained over 400 students who, over the years, have assisted nearly 2,000 low-income and immigrant families and individuals to address poor living conditions such as toxic exposure to lead, asbestos and mold. For her efforts with the WATCH Clinic, she received the Crossroads Community Foundation Woolsey Conover Award and the Community Hero Award.
Professor Goldin was a beloved teacher and mentor. Known to many of her students affectionately as “LG,” they particularly remember her “fierce (and infectious) optimism.” They recall that while she “was not one to let us look away from the disasters…her classes were filled with laughter and brightness and hope... She taught us by example, and she believed in us, so we believed in ourselves.” In 2014 she was awarded the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and was selected by the 2011 Senior Class as “Most Supportive Professor.”
Professor Goldin found her calling in the Brandeis Environmental Studies program. She was essential to its success, twice serving as Chair and as Undergraduate Advising Head. Her newsletter was sent regularly to hundreds of alumni and current students, highlighting job and internship possibilities along with major environmental events. During her 23 years at Brandeis, she was the heart and soul of the Environmental Studies Program, an innovative teacher and, through the WATCH clinic, a great contributor to the Brandeis, Waltham, and Greater Boston communities. Professor Goldin spent her career focused on environmental and social justice. She will be missed by her colleagues, but her legacy lives on at Brandeis and in her students.
I am grateful to Colleen Hitchcock, Dan Perlman, Brian Donahue, Sabine von Mering and Charles Chester of the Environmental Studies Program for their contributions to this memoriam.
Sincerely,
Carol A. Fierke
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs