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Watson

Renewed support for faculty and staff development, an emphasis on energizing grant opportunities and a commitment to strengthening international education are among top priorities for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s new associate vice chancellor of faculty and academic staff affairs.

Jennifer Watson, Ph.D., stepped into the role on August 1, most recently serving as Associate Dean in the College of Letters and Science and Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Watson had been a part of the UW-Milwaukee community since 1997, serving in an academic staff role before becoming a tenure-track faculty member, coordinator of the German program and department chair of Foreign Languages and Literature and, ultimately, associate dean of humanities in the College of Letters and Science.

“I hope to do some teaching (at UW Oshkosh) as well,” said Watson — fluent in both Swedish and German — whose research, expertise  and dissertation examine and focus on German and Scandinavian literature. “I think it is really important to know the students you are serving and to know what faculty and staff are dealing with in the classroom.”

Watson takes on her associate vice chancellor of faculty and academic staff affairs role after Perry Rettig, who served in that post for 8 years of his 16 UW Oshkosh, became provost and vice president for academic affairs at Piedmont College of Georgia in July 2013.

Watson said she was drawn to the UW Oshkosh opportunity while watching its growth over the last many years. In particular, she said she has been impressed with the development and launch of the University Studies Program – the institution’s transformation of general education – and the praise it has received from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

“It felt like a perfect fit,” Watson said.

“Everyone I have met has been full of ideas and has been really concerned about how we can meet the need of students – ‘What can we do for them?’” she said. “That’s a really great community to have.”

Watson earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She pursued graduate studies abroad at Stockholm University and in Vienna, Austria. She earned undergraduate degrees in German and English literature from Grinnell College.

She has also been involved in the successful pursuit of international, online and development grants for approximately 15 years, in addition to earning a number of faculty academic and research awards at UW-Milwaukee. Her scholarly activities include being published in more than 10 books and publications over her academic career.

Watson is married with two children, ages 17 and 8. A resident of Milwaukee, with plans to move to Oshkosh after her daughter’s high school graduation, she said she has been concentrating on UW Oshkosh’s faculty and staff handbook and preparing for the launch of the fall 2014 semester and the work necessary to develop direct and deep connections to the institutional colleagues.

“I really see myself as a support role,” she said. “I want to help faculty, staff and students strive and succeed to the best of their abilities.”

 

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