William Watson
BIO
William Watson, Ed.D., was raised by Mississippi civil rights parents who risked their lives and his to resist status quo white supremacy. He survived racists’ backlash, homophobia and alcoholism to become a “rehab” psychotherapist before working in higher education and becoming an Aspen Presidential Fellow.
After 20 years in California higher education administration, he and his intersections (southern poverty red-neck, queer, alcoholic, CRT doctorate, “San Francisco liberal elite”) finally jumped the masochism ship of higher ed in 2020 just before the pandemic sent everyone else home with him.
“What now?” “What’s next?” and “What is uniquely mine to give?” led to a publishing contract to write Twelve Steps for White America: for a United States of America, a hopeful Treatment Plan for Democracy inspired by a passage from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time.
Published by Cognella Press, The book, workbook and the audiobook ℗ 2025, including Watson’s Rigged Advantage Theory, was awarded
The BookFest
- Gold Medal for Society & Social Sciences – Race Culture Class & Religion
- Silver Medal for Politics & Government - Political Psychology
- Silver Medal for Health & Wellness - Addiction & Recovery
And
The Literary Titan
- Gold Book Award for work that “makes an extraordinary contribution to the literary world.”
What AA did for alcoholism in the 20th Century,
Watson's Rigged Advantage Theory (problem) and
Treatment Plan for Democracy (solution) can at scale
do for American democracy in the 21st century.
EXPERIENCE & CONTENT EXPERTISE
Author & Speaker
Twelve Steps for White America: for a United States of America Book (Workbook with Christine Sleeter, contributor) Cognella Press.
Waterbrook, LLC
C-Suite Higher Education
Collaborative Impact Partnerships
Leader of higher education participation in complex regional and national collaborations STEM, Financial Capability, Career Pathways, Stackable Credentials (in Bio-manufacturing, 2+3 Engineering Transfer to M.S.), Economic Mobility, Immigrant Integration, Faculty Development (SRI, NSF, Stanford), College to Career for Court-Involved Youth, and Opportunity Youth Collective Impact Initiatives.
Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Anti-Racism
- Rigged Advantage Theory (Originator)
- Applied recovery principles to uproot legacies of slavery in Twelve Steps for White America
- Award winning program designer and manager of equitable outcomes serving populations marginalized by whiteness-affiliated rigged advantage that relies on white supremacy and anti-blackness
- Published student service innovations serving immigrants and English language learners
- Doctorate centers social justice and equity
- Policy Advocate for Immigrant Integration (CA AB 2098)
- Effective leadership for some of the most diverse higher education populations in the USA (San Mateo County-Neighboring San Francisco, Oakland-Alameda, San José)
- Leader of Program awarded the John W. Rice Diversity and Equity Award (California Community Colleges Board of Governors)
Organizational Development, Strategic Planning & Accreditation
- C-Suite (Cabinet) Leadership of Strategic Planning for colleges and college districts serving Students, Faculty, Academic Senates, Classified Professionals, Unions & Regional & National Partnerships
- Accreditation Team Management, Writing and Editing
- Organizational transformation to launch the Community College Center for Economic Mobility
- Strategic partnerships for the college district serving the 10th largest city in the U.S. Sample partnerships included: the Silicon Valley Leadership Group - Cradle to Career; NextFlex - America's Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute; Integrated Device Technology (internet of things); SRI International; Northeastern University; Pacific Northwest HUB for NSF STEM with Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, Stanford Graduate School of Education | youcubed, SLAC - Stanford National Laboratory.