Advisors
Susan Watt
Background
KSU’s Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house used to be the St. Mary’s Hospital; I was born there back in the dark ages. The house on the southwest corner of Juliette and Bluemont; my grandfather built it and my father was born in it. I spent my youth in the Black Hills and in Denver, CO.
My first job was at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center providing nutritional care for adult patients on the surgical floor, intensive care unit, and burn unit. I have written nutrition education materials and trained the teachers who used them, consulted for an obstetrics/gynecology clinic, the Area Agency on Aging, Community Health Care Systems in Onaga, KS, and taught nutrition at K-State. I joined the Health Professions Advising Office in August 1996.
My husband has a private law practice in Wamego and is the attorney for the Pottawatomie County Commission.
Education
BS - Kansas State University - Dietetics and Institutional Management
MS - Kansas State University - Foods and Nutrition
Favorite Pastime
Learning about art, ceramics, and art glass occupies my time outside of work. Looking for hidden treasures at auctions and cooking for others brings me pleasure. My husband has helped me learn to enjoy and collect art with him, particularly lithographs from the early 1920's through the 1940's, ceramics, and art glass.
On Academic Advising
Advisors are here to help students clarify and reach their goals by providing accurate information. I strive to create an atmosphere in which students feel welcome and safe in confiding their fears and dreams, their challenges and defeats, their joys and accomplishments. I am here to support and guide my students, celebrate with them, and lend a sense of perspective. I try to help students understand the value of education and define for themselves what it means to be successful. When advising, I keep in mind this quote from Thomas Merton's book, On Love and Living, "The purpose of education is to show a person how to define himself authentically and spontaneously in relation to his world-not to impose a prefabricated definition of the world, still less an arbitrary definition of the individual himself."
Interesting Fact
There is a collection of art in memory of my daughter at the Beach Museum of Art.
Last Word
"Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friends.” ― John Lennon