Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Chestnut Hill College in 1962.
She primarily taught courses in American Religious History, and served as chair of the department later in her career in 2005.
[9][10] She has authored numerous articles in the study of metaphysical traditions in North America, and was the editor of The Spirituality of the American Transcendentalists: Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amos Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker and Henry David Thoreau, which was published in 1988.
[11][12] Her most recent book, The Delight Makers: Anglo-American Metaphysical Religion and the Pursuit of Happiness, was published with The University of Chicago Press in 2024.
[13] As of October 2021, Albanese is the J. F. Rowny Distinguished Professor Emerita of Comparative Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara.