• Interim Associate Chair and Instructor of Retailing, University of South Carolina

Michael Watson has more than 20 years of experience in higher education. At the University of South Carolina, he holds various positions including interim associate chair for the Department of Retailing, instructor, Senior Faculty Fellows for the Center for Integrative and Experiential Learning, and store director for the Gamecock iHUB, the authorized on-campus Apple retailer.

Michael Watson believes deeply in connecting elements of academic learning with beyond the classroom opportunities. In the past, he has integrated his own expertise and activity with coursework and industry events, such as leading experiential learning around an exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art featuring the work of fashion designer Alexander McQueen, facilitating and leading a group of students to New York City for the annual National Retail Federation conference, coordinating fashion show production for Toronto Fashion Week, co-designing annual fundraising events for the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, N.C., and spearheading the creation and curation of the faculty collaboration project for the grand opening of the Gambrell Center for Arts and Civic Engagement at Queens University in Charlotte.

Watson has led study abroad programs to Milan, Italy, for fashion week. In addition to facilitating the program, he also taught a retail and fashion forecasting course in collaboration with a sister institution.

In the past, he has been a leadership and subject-matter expert on HuffPost Live, and an emcee and speaker coach for eight years for TEDx Charlotte events. He has educated and coached emerging leaders, shaped a national retail company's visual footprint and brand image, designed retail stores, expanded business models, and reshaped communities utilizing his arts, retail, and leadership expertise.

Upon graduating from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, Watson worked for a national retail department store chain, eventually becoming their youngest regional visual merchandising manager, whereupon he won national design awards for his visual displays and managed design teams during merger acquisitions. Watson also ran East Coast operations for the national teen retailer Hot Topic, leading more than 60 stores and 500 employees through rapid growth transitions and new store expansions.

A big advocate of saying yes to large things, in 2018, Watson climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

• –present Interim Associate Chair and Instructor of Retailing, University of South Carolina

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