Dr. Jarvis M. Watson (he, him, his) is the Chief Diversity Officer of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) at the Center for Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA.
Dr. Watson is a change agent for diversity, equity, and inclusion. For over 22 years, he has dedicated his time, expertise, and creativity toward programs and initiatives for access, awareness, and opportunity. Dr. Watson is a results-oriented Higher Education Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility experienced in driving the DEIA strategy, action plan, and assessment, while serving as an advisor and influential strategist. He has been successful with conceptualizing, developing, implementing, measuring, and evaluating cohesive DEIA initiatives. Dr. Watson dedicates his time and expertise toward ensuring that DEIA is centered in complete talent management cycles and practices.
Recently, Dr. Watson, served as the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He worked with the executive leadership to initiate institutional DEI strategic planning, collaborated with campus leadership to implement campus climate assessments and inventories, partnered with the Office of Learning Technologies to administer online anti-racist training and education, established cultural programming to foster a culture of belonging and respect, consulted academic chairs with inclusive approaches toward faculty recruitment and hiring, cultivated external art and corporate partnerships for pathway and financial support opportunities, distributed inclusive and culturally relevant institutional communications, and steered student and professional leadership development initiatives.
He previously served as the Interim Chief Diversity Officer at Stony Brook University. In this position, Dr. Watson was integral in unifying the campus through centralized diversity funded initiatives, statewide faculty recruitment initiatives, student equity initiatives, and developing DEI Task Force Working Groups. Dr. Watson also served as Assistant Dean for Student Support Services at Stony Brook University, where his work often focused on student crisis issues, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dr. Watson began his extensive experience in higher education in administration, enrollment, retention, and instruction through his position as the coordinator of the GEAR UP program at Kean University. Dr. Watson helped provide access and awareness for college enrollment to historically marginalized populations and worked with the local community to build sustainable pathways to college. In his role as counselor with the Exceptional Educational Opportunity Program at Kean University, Dr. Watson extended his reach to engage with students that were first generation and economically disadvantaged, but who demonstrated academic promise and ability.
Dr. Watson returned to his Alma Mater (Stony Brook University) to continue EEOP’s mission, to work with the New York Educational Opportunity Program. In relation to his administrative experience, he also served as the Assistant Director of the Educational Opportunity Program at the Southampton Campus of SBU. Through collaborative efforts with the EOP team and Stony Brook University community, EOP ranked as the most successful program for retention and graduation. In an elevated role, Dr. Watson served as the Assistant Dean for Multicultural Affairs. In this role, Dr. Watson created cultural awareness initiatives that included heritage month programming, campus wide diversity and inclusion workshops, developed culturally inclusive curriculums, co-developed a social justice certification program called, the Social Justice League.
Dr. Watson served as a First Year Experience instructor with the Office of Undergraduate Colleges. He also served as an adjunct professor with the Department of Africana Studies, and the Educational Leadership Program.
Dr. Watson received his doctorate in Educational Administration, Leadership, and Technology from Dowling College in Oakdale. He earned a master’s degree in Counselor Education from Kean University in Union, NJ, and his bachelor’s degree in English from Stony Brook University.
A frequent public speaker and presenter, Dr. Watson has given keynote addresses, has received numerous leadership awards, and has provided presentations on diversity, equity, and inclusion at more than 15 regional and national academic conferences and events. He also co-hosts two podcasts: The Rejected Stone Podcast and Diversity in 3D.
Dr. Watson’s Columbia University email address is jw4553@columbia.edu
