How many incoming college freshmen have a vague idea of a career path? A small, distinguished liberal arts institution can be a major influence for these students. That was the case for Sarah Coe, who had been homeschooled in Friendswood, outside of Houston. After SU, Sarah attended Harvard Law School and is now a tax attorney at Vinson & Elkins in Houston.

She had taken dual credit courses at Alvin Community College where her math teacher’s daughter was a Southwestern alumna. Sarah was interested in political science, but not in practicing law, she says. In her first year at SU, Sarah took a chemistry class and, inspired by the subject and professors, added chemistry as a second major “just for fun.” She had no plan for combining her two disparate degrees into a career at the time, but she was intrigued when she learned Dr. Willis Weigand (retired SU chemistry professor) had previously worked in patent law which requires a strong science background.

While at SU, Sarah performed biochemistry research for Dr. Maha Zewail-Foote, joined the student chapter of the American Chemical Society, and interned at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Dallas. She was a scholarship student, eventually president of Alpha Chi, and added a math minor inspired by Dr. Kendall Richards, professor of mathematics.

As a distraction from studies, Sarah participated in Operation Achievement where each year she tutored a middle school student in two-hour weekly sessions on campus that included an enrichment activity allowing her to mentor the student further.

Sarah says her choice of law schools was influenced by a colleague of Dr. Wiegand, Dr. Heather Flanagan, a patent lawyer in Austin who obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University. Once she visited the law school campus and learned how many Texans attended, she was hooked. However, she discovered during an internship, that patent law “wasn’t her passion.”

She gravitated to tax law as it pertains to mergers and acquisitions, and realized that Texas was fertile ground. Although she had not originally planned to return to Houston, working for Vinson & Elkins, a premier Texas law firm, was a good fit. Sarah says she’s in a small group with strong mentors,” just like what she experienced during her college days.

-Written by Iris Bullard Foster ’75