George Watson is a Parents Association Emeritus Professor in political science at Arizona State University. Coming to ASU in 1969 from Duke University, he served his first 25 years in the Department of Political Science before going to the Walter Cronkite School to teach statistics, research methods and media and politics—courses that were regularly offered as part of ASU's distance learning instructional television and web-based curriculum. Professor Watson has co-authored texts in research methods and in statistics, as well as a book on the politics of appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has consulted with staff in the United States Senate and the Congressional Research Service regarding the appointment process and maintains a website on the topic at supremecourt.ws.
For much of the time between 1986 to 1997, Professor Watson served as director of ASU's faculty development program. During his tenure there, he helped establish the Consortium for Instructional Innovation, ASU's Rookie Camp for new faculty, and Arizona's Wakonse Teaching Fellowship. Recognized by the ASU Parents Association in 2002 with an endowed teaching professorship, Professor Watson is one of the seven charter members of ASU's Distinguished Teaching Academy. He is also a past president of the International Society for Teaching and Learning Excellence.
Active in faculty governance matters, Professor Watson served as president of ASU’s faculty assembly for the 2002-2003 academic year and of the Downtown Phoenix Campus in 2007-08. That year he also chaired the Arizona Faculty Council, the representative body of Arizona's universities faculties to the Arizona Board of Regents. Retiring from a 39-year career at ASU in 2009, Professor Watson continues teaching the occasional online course while residing on the Washington coast with his spouse, Dr. Mary Ann McHugh, an ASU online instructor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and editor/author with Oxford University Press.