Teresa Watson ’23

As a non-traditional student in my mid-sixties, I came to SUNY Purchase because of music I had encountered during my university scholarship decades earlier, which sparked my imagination for the world beyond my Deep Southern, (Georgia) roots.

Following decades of banking, paralegal work, public corruption research and finally a stint as the head of a public-school Library/Media Center, COVID allowed me time to regroup and go after what I had been longing for, for decades - the study of Anthropology.

I found a sense of community with my Anthropology cohort and faculty, where I studied under Dr. David Kim, Dr. Lorraine Plourde, Dr. Ragnhild Utheim and others. While at Purchase, I won a scholarship to study Climate Change Mitigation in Norway, a significantly urgent aspect of multidisciplinary concern across a broad spectrum of academics.

Currently, I am in the application process for a PhD, Science and Religion, at the University of Edinburgh, where I have studied both Religion and Literature, as well as Science and Religion at one of only four universities in the entire world which offers such a degree. I will soon graduate with a Post Graduate Masters of Theology in Religion and Literature.

As a member of the Edinburgh University Music Society, I continue my decades long participation in concert choirs, having performed most recently with David Baranowski, a SUNY Purchase alum who directs both the Westchester Choral Society, where I served on the Board of Directors, and The Hudson Chorale, as well as the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Chancel Choir in Irvington New York, under the direction of Jesse Goldberg, Manhattan School Of Music.

When not in class, church or choir, or serving in the St. John’s Scottish Episcopal Soup Kitchen, I enjoy taking in the sights and sounds of one of the most beautiful World Heritage cities in the world, including regular pub crawls with my two cohorts, which may include an adult beverage or two.