Lemuel W. Watson is Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost for Community Engagement at Antioch University and the Coalition of Common Good.

He has been deeply engaged with the community as a personal and professional advocate through numerous arts, community, educational, and professional boards. He commits to leaving the world better than how he has found it. He genuinely loves those he meets and is curious to get to know them authentically. He moves about the world as an educator, advocate, leader, new thought minister, poet, and collaborator with various individuals and groups. He believes there is no separating life into compartments but that each day and all experiences help one to become fully awake.

Watson is also a Distinguished Professor and Dean Emeritus and Founding Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Higher Education at the University of South Carolina and the former founding Executive Director of the Center for P-20 Engagement and Dean of the College of Education at Northern Illinois University as well as former Associate Vice President and Interim Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Dean of the School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington. He is the former host of Indiana University’s podcast On Illuminating: truth and Light, the South Carolina Educational Television series, Carolina Classrooms, and Fulbright Scholar to Belarus. He earned a BS in Business from the Moore School of Business at USC, an MA from Ball State University, his doctorate in higher education and policy from Indiana University at Bloomington, and a doctorate in spiritual studies at Emerson Theological Institute.

He has written books, monographs, and articles related to research on leadership, contemplative practices, underrepresented populations, LGBTQ+, public policy, and human development. He has obtained over $14 million in research funding from various organizations as a researcher. A seasoned leader whose career spans various industries, including educational, non-profit organizations, private, and entrepreneurship/small businesses. He has worked as a global consultant on leadership, public policy, and talent management issues. As a certified mindfulness teacher by Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and as a certified mindfulness organizational strategist by the Institute for Organizational Science and Mindfulness, he currently focuses on mindful leadership and talent management to enhance work and learning environments. Residing at the intersection of leadership and mindfulness as a researcher and practitioner, Lemuel creates spaces for silence, awareness, and self-inquiry to help individuals align their strengths and intentions to guide and lead. Through his integrative approach, he shares transformative, dedicated, and integrated tools for self-renewal, personal discovery, and capacity-building that ease clients on their journey toward peace, clarity, and freedom. He commits to leaving the world better than how he has found it.