JCSU News Release

JCSU Hires Alum as Associate VP
of Academic Affairs

September 24, 2007 - Johnson C. Smith University recently promoted Brian L Johnson, Ph.D. as its Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor of English/Honors College Core Faculty.

He received his B.A. in English from the Honors College at Johnson C. Smith University in 1995. Dr. Johnson then completed his M.A. in English from The University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998. In 2003, earned his Ph.D. in English from The University of South Carolina at Columbia where he concentrated in 17th-19th Century American literature and African American literature.

Dr. Johnson’s most recently came to JCSU from Clafin University in Orangeburg, S.C where he served as an Associate Professor of English and founding Director of the Jonathan Jasper Wright Institute for the Study of Southern African American History, Culture and Policy. His other administrative experience within higher education includes serving as Director, Ronald McNair Undergraduate Research Program/TRIO at The University of South Carolina.

His recent scholarship includes his first book, Du Bois on Reform: Periodical-Based Leadership for African Americans (New York: Alta Mira Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) and a second book, W.E.B. Du Bois: Agnostic (a biography), which is currently under contract with Rowman and Littlefield and scheduled for publication in 2008.

He also has received other distinctions including, but not limited to, The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute of African/African American Research at Harvard University (2004-2005), and a Lilly Fellowship/Center for Christian Studies Fellowship at Gordon College (2005-2007) where in November 2006 he co-organized the “Christ in Contemporary Cultures: A Cultural Studies” Conference where Dr. Cornel West served as keynote speaker.

Johnson C. Smith University President Dorothy Cowser Yancy said the new appointment “will allow JCSU to move to the next level in enhancing academic success on campus.”

As JCSU’s new Associate Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Johnson will be responsible for overseeing The Center for Integrated Studies, International Studies, Continuing Education, Summer School, Faculty Development as well as assisting the Vice President for Academic Affairs in a variety of administrative tasks. He and his wife Shemeka Johnson (JCSU, 1997) have two sons, Brian Asa and Nathan Morgan Qodesh.