Sandra Hairston (English ’81) – US Attorney

Sandra J. Hairston, who graduated from the Department of English in 1981, has just been appointed to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle Districts of North Carolina. Hairston and Dena King are the
first Black women to serve as the top officials in each jurisdiction. Hairston, grew up in Walnut Cove, NC (just north of Winston-Salem) and attended Law School at North Carolina Central after graduating from UNC Charlotte’s English Program. She has served as first assistant U.S attorney for the Middle District; assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District; chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District; special assistant district attorney in Guilford County; and assistant district attorney in Columbus County.