Sara Richter ’24
Sara Richter ’24, originally from Naperville, IL., graduated with two degrees, a BFA in Dance and a BA in Anthropology.
Richter joined the Global Scholars program in the inaugural 2020 cohort and remained active since then, serving as the longest-standing Teaching Assistant in the Global Scholars seminar with one other student.
The Purchase College Global Scholars Program is a four-year co-curricular program designed to bring together like-minded students from across academic areas to develop skills in intercultural communication and create a forum for globally focused, interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dean for Global Strategy and International Programs Anne Kern admires the role Richter played in shaping the program and her willingness to accept every challenge presented, all while juggling the academic demands of two degree programs and a potentially career-ending foot injury.
Richter served as…
- assistant to the Conservatory of Dance’s Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Marcel Gbeffa
- worked as an International Orientation Leader in the summers of 2022 and 2023
- co-led a small delegation of Global Scholars to the United Nations headquarters in New York City to meet and speak with the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed
- co-led a Zoom breakout group composed of campus leaders and staff in a workshop on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals featuring John McArthur, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
- selected by the facilitators of the Soliya Global Exchange Connect Program to participate in their advanced training course to become credentialed as a facilitator herself
The Synergy of Dance and Society
Richter’s motivation for joining the Global Scholars program is tied to her passion for dance and its global societal roots.
“I dream of one day traveling the world, learning all the indigenous dances that have paved the way for modern contemporary dance. Most importantly, I strive to be a citizen of the world and to embrace myself in societies that are not my own.”
Associate Professor of Anthropology David Kim explains how Richter’s research in anthropology demonstrates the vibrant connection between the arts and social sciences.
“Dancers have always made fine ethnographers—Sara is a part of this rich history,” Kim writes.
“Their honed awareness of the body in space gives them a unique perspective on people and the environments they inhabit. Sara’s own work reflects this, as her research examines how people are entwined with social forces—aesthetic, cultural, and historical. The arts and social sciences enrich one another through experimentation and practice. Her work most excellently captures this synergy.”
In the summer of 2023, Richter traveled with a Purchase College study abroad program to Northern Ireland. Assistant Professor of Playwriting Peggy Stafford led the Socially Engaged Art Making in Northern Ireland program.
“Sara Richter is bright, curious, and invested in the world around her. Sara challenged herself to create a dance that was at once relevant, and refreshingly spectacular and powerful. A natural leader and community-builder, Sara brings light and laughter into every room she enters,” writes Stafford.
The impact Sara has made across the college has been incredibly positive, according to Kern.
“Sara is simply extraordinary, both as a student artist-scholar and human being.”
Richter also performed with fellow alumni and served as the Dance Captain in Cain Coleman’s premiere of New Information at New York City’s innovate arts presenter, The Shed in Hudson Yards.