Biography

Evan Watson serves as an adjunct professor at Howard University, teaching in the Interior Design Program at the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and the College of Engineering and Architecture. He teaches computer-aided design (CAD) and Revit, and his teaching philosophy centers on equipping students with the software and tools that will carry them into the future of the profession. Just as importantly, he helps students understand the full landscape of what degrees in interior design and architecture make possible — from traditional practice to the many non-traditional career paths open to them.

Watson is an architect, real estate development leader, and educator with more than two decades of experience spanning design, construction, and affordable housing. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, he began his career in architecture, practicing for over 13 years with a focus on residential work of every kind — senior housing, student housing, single-family homes, and multifamily development — before transitioning into the real estate world.

In real estate, Evan has worked as an owner's representative and development manager and today serves as the lead Design & Construction Project Manager at Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH). There he leads projects from predevelopment through construction, including the Barry Farm Redevelopment in Southeast Washington, DC — a roughly 1,000-unit, $400 million mixed-income community — as part of a career portfolio exceeding 3,000 residential units.

That commitment to students spans every level of education. Watson has taught architecture to children through weekend workshops, mentored at-risk students while teaching graphic design at an arts-focused high school in Chicago, and worked with community college students — meeting learners wherever they are and opening doors to design as both a discipline and a career.

Watson holds a Master of Architecture with a focus in Digital Media from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Architecture from Tuskegee University. He brings to the classroom a practitioner's perspective, connecting design fundamentals to the realities of building at scale and preparing students to move confidently from concept to constructed space.