Sarah C. Zearfoss is a senior assistant dean at the University of Michigan Law School. She supervises the Office of Financial Aid.

Zearfoss earned a BA in psychology, cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College and a JD, magna cum laude, from Michigan Law. In law school, she served as editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of International Law and authored a note on international women’s rights, for which she received the Eric Stein Award. She was also the recipient of the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship and the Robert S. Feldman Labor Law Award, and was a member of the Order of the Coif. 

Following graduation, she clerked for the Hon. James L. Ryan of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and worked as a litigation associate in the Detroit office of Pepper Hamilton LLP. 

Dean Z returned to the Law School in 1999 in the capacity of judicial clerkship adviser, before moving to the Admissions Office in 2001. During her tenure at the Law School, she spent 25 years directing the work of the Admissions Office, and has also supervised the Offices of Career Planning and Student Life. Currently, she serves as adviser to the dean and to the Admissions Office.