Advisors
Susan Watt
Background
I was born in Manhattan, Kansas. I spent my youth in Rapid City, SD, in the heart of the beautiful Black Hills, and Denver, CO. I live in Wamego where my husband has a law practice. We have two children, a golden retriever and two cats. My daughter attends K-State and my son will graduate high school in 2003. I spent many years working as a dietitian.
Education
BS - Kansas State University - Dietetics and Institutional Management
MS - Kansas State University - Foods and Nutrition
First Impressions of Manhattan
Considering I was born here, my true first impressions of Manhattan have escaped my conscious memory! When I came back to Manhattan after living in the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains, the first thing that struck me was the oppressive heat and humidity, and the flat landscape. I have come to love the Flint Hills and the subtle beauty of the prairie. I still don't like the heat of summer.
Favorite Pastime
I enjoy reading and knitting. I collect antique dishes and my husband has helped me learn to enjoy and collect art with him, particularly lithographs from the early 1920's through the 1940's.
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
I can play the harmonica and I love loud rock and roll music (and classical, and jazz, and Celtic, and blue grass, and big band.).