Dissertation: "An in-depth look at what happens during a state takeover of a school district: A case study of East St. Louis, Illinois school district 189"

Bio: Farris A. Watson is a member of the 2013 cohort. Most of his career has been in the government sector working for the Iowa Department of Transportation, the City of East St. Louis, Illinois and the State of Illinois. Currently, he works for St. Louis County Government Department of Planning Office of Community Development as a Senior Community Development Specialist. His doctoral dissertation is focused in education on the City of East St. Louis, Illinois. For his dissertation, Farris is doing a comparative study of school districts in Illinois that have been or are currently under state receivership entitled Governance in East St. Louis School District 189 Local School Board Control versus State Control.

Degrees: Dual B.A. in English and Political Science, Iowa State University; M.S. in Human Resource Management, Lindenwood University

Email: fwats2@uis.edu