Diane E. Watson, PhD, Education
Congresswoman Diane E. Watson is a lifetime resident of California’s 33rd
Congressional District where she served as US Representative from 2003-2011.
Watson is a CGU alumna, receiving her PhD in Educational Administration in 1987.
Her lifetime commitment to education stems from her involvement in the Los Angeles
public schools where she worked as an elementary school teacher and school
psychologist.
Carrying her commitment to improve education and the lives of Californians, in 1975,
Watson became the first African American woman elected to the Los Angeles Unified
School District Board of Education. Her legacy there includes efforts to expand school
integration and toughen academic standards. Nineteen seventy eight marked her election
to the California State Senate where she was chosen to chair – from 1981 to 1998 – the
Senate Health and Human Services Committee. She also served on the Senate Judiciary
Committee. During her tenure in the California State Senate, Watson became a statewide
and national advocate – authoring several bills – on health care, consumer protection,
women, and children.
In 1999, President William J. Clinton appointed Watson to be the United States
Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. Watson served in this capacity until
2001, when she returned to California to run for Congress in a special election. She won,
and was reelected to four successive two-year terms in the 33rd Congressional District,
representing its more than 600,000 diverse residents.
Watson was a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and
was the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization,
and Procurement. She was also on the Subcommittee for Domestic Policy and the
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives. Additionally,
Watson served on the House Foreign Relations Committee, and was a member of the
Women’s Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, and the UK Caucus.
Watson announced her retirement from Congress in 2010 after a 36-year political career
that brought her from the school board to the State Senate, to an Ambassadorship, and the
US House of Representatives.