{"id":58055,"date":"2016-02-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-assistant-diversity-director-for-college-of-engineering-wins-national-award-from-national-society-of-black-engineers\/"},"modified":"2016-02-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T00:00:00","slug":"uri-assistant-diversity-director-for-college-of-engineering-wins-national-award-from-national-society-of-black-engineers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/02\/uri-assistant-diversity-director-for-college-of-engineering-wins-national-award-from-national-society-of-black-engineers\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 assistant diversity director for College of Engineering wins national award from National Society of Black Engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tCharles Watson will accept award at annual conference, March 26<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I., Feb.18, 2016\u2014\u201cGo see Chuck.\u201d That would be Charles A. Watson, assistant director of minority recruitment for the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Engineering who helps students of color find their way\u2014on campus, at labs and in life.<\/p>\n


\nThe 51-year-old 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate is devoted to his students, and that work has now been recognized nationally. The National Society of Black Engineers will honor him as minority engineering program director of the year during the 42nd annual conference March 26 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.<\/p>\n


\n \t\u201cI\u2019m humbled,\u201d says Watson, a longtime Cranston resident. \u201cI\u2019m also proud to represent my University. I feel a lot of pride for the work we\u2019ve done, and I\u2019m grateful for the support from 溏心vlog免费B站.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he joined the College of Engineering in 2004, minority enrollment has increased from 3 percent to 13 percent\u2014a rise attributed to Watson\u2019s tireless efforts to recruit minority students beginning as far back as grade school. Once they get to 溏心vlog免费B站, Watson stays in close touch with the students, helping them with everything from professional internships and laboratory research with professors to social issues and financial concerns.<\/p>\n


\nIf job placement is a measure of success, the program is a hit. Thanks to the students\u2019 talent and Watson\u2019s mentoring, graduates have found work at businesses throughout the country, including Eaton Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Google, Amazon, FM Global, National Grid, Johnson & Johnson, Toray Plastics and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.<\/p>\n


\nFor Watson, the work is a labor of love: \u201cTheir story is my story.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBorn in Hammond, La., a small town outside of Baton Rouge, Watson was raised by a family of teachers. At age 6, he moved to Providence with his mother so she could teach music at Nathan Bishop Middle School. He lived on Camp Street on the city\u2019s East Side, not far from his grade school, Martin Luther King Jr., where most of his friends and neighbors were black.<\/p>\n


\nIn 1976, he moved to Cranston, and \u201cculture shock\u201d set in. \u201cLet me put it this way: I was the only brother in the classroom,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was tough. It was very different for me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSports were his ticket to success. He excelled at basketball and track in middle school and continued down that path in high school, where the three-star letterman also played running back and defensive back in football. The high school was majority \u201call-white,\u201d he says, but he was learning how to \u201cenjoy the environment and engage everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn short, he was becoming \u201cChuck Watson, the person,\u201d not just \u201cChuck Watson who could run, jump, shoot baskets.\u201d A turning point came when he was voted most popular his senior year instead of most athletic. He was so upset he stormed out of the awards dinner. His mother sat him down: \u201cSon,\u201d she said, \u201cdon\u2019t you get it. They see you as more than just an athlete. They see you as \u2018Chuck,\u2019 something very special.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHis next stop was 溏心vlog免费B站, where he played football and also received guidance from the late Leo DiMaio, founder of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Talent Development Program, which provides mentoring and academic help to students so they can fulfill their potential.<\/p>\n


\nWatson left school briefly and worked as a chef and then returned to 溏心vlog免费B站, getting his degree in family studies in 1993. He worked as a counselor in a group home and as a substitute teacher, before landing a job as director of enrichment programs at the Times\u00b2 Academy charter school in Providence, a position that eventually led him to the engineering college at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\nBlack, Latino and Native American students still lag far behind whites and Asians in their participation in math, science, engineering and technology fields. Since 2000, underrepresented minorities\u2019 participation in engineering and physical sciences has been flat and their share in mathematics and statistics has dropped, according to the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n


\nGetting students interested in engineering early is crucial to turn things around, Watson says. Under his guidance, 溏心vlog免费B站 offers engineering workshops to young Rhode Island students during the summer and school breaks, where they get experience building robots, taking apart lawn mowers and strengthening their math skills so they\u2019re prepared when they get to college. They also learn how to work as a team.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cHaving the opportunity to guide and mentor students is phenomenal,\u201d he says. \u201cI can relate to them because I\u2019ve been through what they’ve been through. I know what it\u2019s like to climb these hills.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMany students face what he faced growing up: raised by a single mother; the target of discrimination; living in an all-white or mostly-white community; financial pressures. He encourages students to come to him with their concerns, and they do. \u201cGo see Chuck,\u201d is what students tell each other.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThese students need someone who can mentor them and help them because the road can be bumpy,\u201d says Watson. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s all about the future. It’s about opportunity. Our job is to help support their careers as best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHe credits the dean\u2019s office in the College of Engineering with having the vision to ensure that opportunities are available to students of color. \u201cWhen I stand up on that stage to accept the award,\u201d says Watson, \u201cthere will be a lot of \u2018thank yous.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n


\nFor more information click engineering college<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: Charles Watson, assistant director of minority recruitment for the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Engineering. <\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 engineering students and members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.

\nPhotos courtesy of Charles A. Watson.\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Watson will accept award at annual conference, March 26 KINGSTON, R.I., Feb.18, 2016\u2014\u201cGo see Chuck.\u201d That would be Charles A. Watson, assistant director of minority recruitment for the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Engineering who helps students of color find their way\u2014on campus, at labs and in life. The 51-year-old 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}