Watson has worked alongside institutions across the country for 15 years. As a leader and an educator, she maintained a mindset that students are her priority.

Before accepting her current position, Watson worked at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas as the Associate Vice President for Student Life. During her time there, Watson co-founded the Anti-Black Racism Taskforce and Minority-Serving Intuition Student Council to support underrepresented students.

Watson grew up in Los Angeles and pursued a bachelor’s degree in African and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. She earned a Master of Education from the University of Missouri at Saint Louis and a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Northern Kentucky University.

Central Michigan Life sat down with Watson to ask about how she plans to utilize her new position on CMU's campus.

CM Life: What made you decide to work in student life and affairs?

Watson: What made me go into student life as a whole is [that] student affairs was my lifeline when I was an undergrad. I was involved as an RA. The residential life community was my family. They were the ones that I had lunch with and dinner with at night. They were the ones that helped me keep my grades on track because I had a requirement to maintain a certain GPA in order to keep my job. And then my residents; I was there to help them transition, to help find their classes, to point them to resources. If there was a crisis, I was there, helping mop up the water from the flood, from the rain the night before...And so had I not been in student affairs, I would not have been able to find a community. I wanted students to have that same kind of experience.

What do you hope to change or build on at CMU?

"A couple of things. For one, I do want to commend the student affairs staff and the faculty at large — I really enjoyed the events that I've been able to be a part of thus far from move-in to Leadership Safari, IMPACT, as well as Welcome Week. However, when I came into this role, I definitely wanted to see there be some events for LGBTQ students right at Welcome Week...I definitely want to work more closely with international students as that student body demographic increases -- how do we make sure that they're apart of Welcome Week and are feeling supported?

In partnership with the Office of Global Engagement, I also want to ensure that students of color have a space. Most recently it has been brought to my attention that some students would like to see dedicated space so they can just be together and have a sense of community beyond the Multicultural Academic Student Services office. I really want students to feel like the division of student affairs is a place where they can receive resources and support when they're at their best and when they're most vulnerable."

You co-founded UNLV’s Anti-Black Racism Taskforce, do you plan to bring something similar to CMU?

“The Anti-Black Racism Taskforce at UNLV came as a result of the unfortunate tragedy and murder of George Floyd. The former [UNLV] president at that time brought a number of faculty, staff and administrators to say, ‘what do we need to do? Because I'm concerned about the safety of Black faculty, staff and students on this campus.’ ...We were tasked with creating our own charge, creating our own mission and putting forth a number of action items that we thought were essential.

I would love to work in partnership with the Cabinet or Dr. Patterson or President Davies if that is needed, but it is important for those initiatives to start from the top... But I am certainly glad to be able to utilize what I gained from that experience to show as a model of how some things can get done through a task force that's formed for that purpose. But it does take a collective effort for such a task force to be successful — and then knowing your reach.”

How did you win the Promoting Diversity Star Award in 2016 at Illinois State University?

“At Illinois State, the majority of my work was laying the foundation to create a multicultural center...They did have office spaces. They did have programs. They did have money to support diversity initiatives. But they did not have a space for students just to be. And so through various creative ways, I led a group of students, and our faculty and staff to really make the compelling case that a multicultural center was needed.

...I would also say that during my time at Illinois State University, I worked with faculty to create a program called Power to the People which was with faculty and the college of education that taught students the foundation and principles about how to be an activist in a way that was working with faculty and staff. So, I think it was just a different way of working with students and administration and faculty on how to bring about change that would support diversity efforts."

What advice do you have for students and faculty at CMU regarding diversity inclusion?

"I think we have to allow both faculty, staff and students to be allowed to bring their authentic self to this space. Sometimes there's a place for dialogue and education. Sometimes individuals need to lean into the conversation and be willing to have some discomfort because that's the only way you're going to learn and to challenge your assumptions and to challenge your biases. I think also, in other cases, some people need to take advantage of resources. There's a number of programs that are happening every day in [student affairs] and throughout campus to provide people with tools so that they don't create harm or create a situation where someone doesn't feel comfortable. But I do think it requires some level of vulnerability, introspection and reflection that we should all engage in.

I would say also, don't be afraid to admit when you get it wrong. If I can be honest, sometimes I have misgendered someone. I stopped and said, 'I'm sorry. Let me ask you, what are your preferred gender pronouns?' ...I understand that continuing to misgender someone could be harmful and make them feel ‘othered’ and we don't want to do that. So when you make a mistake, admit it and make that correction.”

What do you hope to teach students?

“Eventually, when it's time for me to leave CMU, I want students to look back and say that Dr. Watson showed me that she cared and that the number one role she has is showing up. I believe that 90% of the job is showing up. That’s showing up to listen, showing up to provide resources, showing up sometimes to be vulnerable and say, ‘hey, I admit we didn't get that right, but here's what we're going to do,’ and so forth. I also want students to know that CMU cares. CMU cares not just for their students but we care even after they graduate, and they can always come home because CMU cares.”