UNH Today

Happenstance brought Kathy-Ann Murray ‘19G to her degree program. She had left her home country of Jamaica after graduating high school with no idea what she wanted to do next. She’d thought about studying law. Or maybe architecture. Then she had a conversation with her aunt, who suggested she look at speech-language pathology.

“I didn’t know anything about it. There wasn’t a program in Jamaica,” says Murray, a communication sciences and disorders (CSD) graduate student in the College of Health and Human Services. “So, I started reading about it, and the more I read, the more interested I became.”

Her search for an undergraduate program led to Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. After earning her bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology, Murray decided to take a break before graduate school and spent two-and-a-half years teaching English in Poland.

“I wanted to make sure of what I wanted to do before committing to graduate school,” Murray says. “I love learning, I love figuring things out; continuing my education would be a natural instinct. I just wanted to be certain I was going in the right direction. Now, I can see myself doing it — I can see myself in the field.”

Now in her second year at UNH, Murray is well on her way. In the fall she will start an externship at Alton Central School, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school in Alton, New Hampshire, where she will assist the speech pathologist. This will be her first time in a school setting. Last year she worked in UNH’s Speech-Language-Hearing Center.  During the spring semester, she will do a second externship, most likely in a clinic or hospital setting. 

“It’s been a great experience,” Murray says. “I'm grateful to be able just to here at UNH to finally continue my studies. And I'm glad to be a part of a great and supportive cohort within the CSD department.” 

Learn more about a career  in communication sciences and disorders.