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Sarah Short Austin-Crosthwaite (born September 13th, 1933) is an American urban affairs veteran and nationally recognized leader in public policy. She was the founding director for the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, and worked as the executive vice president of field operations of the National Urban Coalition.

Early life and education
Austin-Crosthwaite completed a B.A. at Fisk University in 1954. In these years, she was elected to the school council, served as president of the Women's Senate, and was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Accomplishments such as these led to her being named in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. After graduating, she worked for several years at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) before enrolling at Case Western Reserve University. There, Austin-Crosthwaite earned a Master Science Degree in Social Administration at the School of Applied Social Sciences in Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in 1962. During this time, she counseled and mentored young single mothers in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood.

Austin-Crosthwaite is one of few Case Western Reserve-Fisk University dual alumni.

Professional background
Throughout her career, Austin-Crosthwaite has held high-level and senior-level positions in the public and private sector. She had her start in 1954 as an assistant to the Dean of Students for Fisk University. She moved on two years later to work as the New Haven YWCA Youth Director, where she directed the Social Services Program for girls ages 12-18 and supervised both staff and volunteer leaders. In 1962, she continued this position to the Boston YWCA. Eventually, she became the Vice President of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. sector. After this considerable experience, she was named program director for the Christ Child Settlement House in D.C. and later named chairman of its Board of Managers. Then from 1964 to 1967, she was a faculty member of the Howard University School of Social Work.

Starting June of 1967, Austin-Crosthwaite was the senior social scientist of the Westinghouse Learning Corporation in Maryland, where she provided technical assistance and consultation to management staff of training programs. Still working within the company, she became the Director of Social Planning for its Urban Systems Development subsidiary to direct and coordinate the corporation's planning efforts for the development of its housing programs. In 1972, she was promoted as the Director of Community Planning and Social Development.

Later that year, she was appointed as the Director of Voluntary Action for the U.S. Price Commission, a part of Richard Nixon's Economic Stabilization Program. She was tasked with interpreting Phase II guidelines to the public and to serve as the mediator between the commission and the general public, as well as creating greater consumer awareness of the commission's policies and eliciting more consumer participation against inflation. In 1973, she worked in the National Urban Coalition in Washington, D.C., where she served as the executive vice president of field operations. The organization worked closely with more than 30 local coalitions and affiliated groups toward the full-time goal of urban revitalization. Her responsibilities included providing technical assistance for those local coalitions, channeling information of funding procedures, and brokering/allocating funds. At this time, she also served as a member of the Child Health Center Board of Children's Hospital in D.C. and as a trustee of the Council on Equal Business Opportunity.

She served as a strategist for McConnell Douglas Corporation, where she was director of a business team and oversaw the company's programs for small and disadvantaged businesses. She later moved to be director of community relations for General Dynamics Corporation in 1986, where she directed and coordinated the company's community affairs efforts. From there, she served in senior-level positions at the United States Department of Health, including three White House appointments to National Institutes of Health committees. In addition, she served as special assistant to the secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Elliot Richardson.

From 1980-1981, Austin-Crosthwaite held the Albert A. Levin Chair of Urban Studies and Public Service in Cleveland State University, a position involving relating the needs of the university to the needs and problems of the urban community. Around 1981, she was selected as the executive founding director of the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, a nonprofit private organization created to improve the multicultural and multiracial relations in Cleveland and facilitate minority economic inclusion in Northeast Ohio. During this time, she established a program to create jobs for inner city youth. In 1991, she was named as a 'friendraiser' for The Ohio State University, helping promote business and civic support for the university.

Austin-Crosthwaite has held trustee status among all her alma maters. She is a former trustee of Fisk and St. Paul's College, the home campus of St. Paul's High School where she attended, and has served on the Board of Trustees for CWRU for over 33 years. She is currently trustee emerita for the latter. She is also a founding trustee and former vice chair of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

Awards
In 2008, Austin-Crosthwaite was the keynote speaker for the diploma ceremony at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, where she was awarded the Grace Longwell Coyle Award and inducted into the school's Hall of Achievement. In 2013, she was given the Distinguished Alumni Award for CWRU in light of her career and community involvement.