Born and raised in California, Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Student Success Eda Watts traveled halfway across the country to work with the students, staff and faculty at Blackburn College. Watts is very passionate about her job on campus and is very excited to see what challenges and rewards she will encounter in her first year.
Watts grew up in San Francisco and attended San Francisco State University. “My college experience,” Watts said, “had everything to do with my career path.” She was always an academic achiever and earned an academic scholarship to receive a bachelor’s degree in communications.
Watts came from a single-mother household and struggled with being in a low socioeconomic class. In college, she lived on her own and sometimes struggled with the question, “What comes first: education or bills?”
Despite these barriers, Watts made it through. “After I scratched my way out to the top,” she explained, “and barely made it by the skin of my teeth, I thought to myself, ‘You know what, this really sucks.’” She still felt isolated and had no idea where she wanted to go from there.
She worked at a community college with around 40,000 students for eight years before coming to Blackburn. There was a bit of an adjustment coming from a much larger institution to such a close-knit private college. One of the better differences between these schools, Watts stated, is that “everyone has an open door” at Blackburn.
The work program is also a unique aspect of the college to which Watts had to adjust. She supervises three student workers. One of those students is junior political science major Deja Luckett. Luckett knew that Watts was going to have an accepting attitude from the beginning, but she says her favorite quality about her supervisor is, “She’s not just here for the salary. She actually cares about the campus and cares about changing the diversity awareness on campus.”
Although she’s new, Watts has ambitions for the future of Blackburn to help everyone feel included. She herself already feels included on campus by the staff, faculty and students. “It’s a feeling of family,” she said.