Five Questions: Parris Watts

Watts, a 32-year veteran of higher education, will take over as Dean of the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Drury University July 1. Watts is a Show-Me State native; he graduated from Truman High School near Kansas City and attended Northwest Missouri State University for undergraduate studies. He taught at University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Kansas, Western Illinois University and Southeastern Louisiana State University before moving into administration at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., and MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., where he is currently dean and vice president for academic and student affairs.

Q: What is your experience in higher education, and how did you begin working in administration?

A: I’ve had quite a lengthy and varied experience – I’ve been in higher education for 32 years. I’ve been involved in health promotion and wellness education. All of my degrees are in health education, so my career for the first 20 years was as a professor – not only teaching but doing research, publications and presentations at professional meetings. In 1994, I moved from a professorial assignment to administration.

Q: What drew you to Drury University?

A: Its reputation. But it was also because of its very noble mission, which it’s fulfilling by reaching out into the nontraditional student ranks and providing educational opportunities at its satellite centers throughout the service area. That attracted me because … I really have an affinity for working with nontraditional and graduate students.

Q: What role does nontraditional or continuing education play in the college environment?

A: I believe it’s a very important role. It allows people that are, in many cases, first-generation college students to proceed with educational opportunities and pursuits while sometimes holding down full-time jobs. It also enables us, as the outreach effort is so prevalent in the Drury mission, to reach into communities where higher education is simply not very much available. It allows them to be able to develop as individuals, and it can change their whole future, and for that matter the future of their families. I can see it being the launching pad for those next generations and beyond.

Q: You have experience in administration with both public and private institutions. What advantage does the private system have?

A: I really like private higher education because of the opportunity to move things a little more quickly. There seems to be less bureaucracy. And the potential to develop plans of action, to implement those and to evaluate the effectiveness of them, … just happens more quickly and more efficiently. Private higher education doesn’t throw so many obstacles in one’s path.

Q: How are universities going to deal with the issue of decreasing state funding?

A: Private institutions depend so little on government or external funding that it’s not in my opinion as much of a problem as it has been creating for public institutions. They’re quite accustomed to raising most, if not all, of their money through tuition and their own fund-raising efforts. That’s not to say that opportunities for grants, contracts and other forms of external funding shouldn’t be pursued at Drury. We will take full advantage of any governmental or external funding, but we recognize that need to be aggressive, creative and innovative in program development and delivery.