Dr. Audra M. Watson

Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Audra M. Watson is a Senior Director of Programs at the Institute for Citizens & Scholars

based in Princeton, NJ. She leads the suite of WW Teaching Fellowship programs. Since 2010,

she has worked with 31 campuses, across six states, to recruit, prepare, and provide early career

support to secondary STEM teachers in high-need urban and rural schools. Additional WW

Teaching Fellowships have included the Leonore Annenberg and WW-RBF Aspiring Teachers of

Color Teaching Fellowship programs. She is a fierce advocate for strengthening all aspects of

teacher preparation (recruitment, selection, fieldwork, clinical mentoring, and induction support) to ensure that all students have access to teachers who have been rigorously prepared for the classroom. Audra also leads the Civic Spring Fellowship which provides funding to young people aged 14- 24 who are developing civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions while simultaneously addressing local community needs. The Civic Spring Fellowship provides young people, who are eager to make a change within their communities and country, with the resources and support needed to take action.

Prior to the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, Audra was a nineteen-year NYC Department of

Education veteran, serving in multiple instructional leadership positions. Before leaving the

NYCDOE, she was the Executive Director of Teacher Development where she planned and

executed strategy for developing pre-service and early-career teachers citywide. Chief among

her responsibilities was oversight of the citywide Lead Teacher program, supervision of the

citywide Lead Instructional Mentors, and creation of the Teacher Development Toolkit, a web-

based resource for teachers aligned to Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.

Audra’s additional leadership roles are Secretary/Treasurer for the TPI-US Board of Directors,

faculty lecturer for the EdD in Community-Based Leadership program at the College of Staten

Island, and co-chair for the First Baptist Church Board of Trustees in Elmsford, NY.

Dr. Watson received her master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her

doctorate from the CUNY Graduate Center.