Dr. Brian L. Johnson Board of Trustees

Dr. Brian L. Johnson served as the 7th President of Tuskegee University (2014-2017). He has also held administrative and academic posts in the following capacities: Vice President for Strategic Planning & Institutional Effectiveness, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chief of Staff, Director, Coordinator and Associate and Assistant Professor of English. He received a Ph.D. in 17th­- 19th Century American literature at The University of South Carolina at Columbia (2003), a M.A. in English from The University of Wisconsin­-Madison (1998) and a B.A. in English from Johnson C. Smith University (1995).

Among several administrative and academic fellowships, he has been named a (2012­-2013) (A.C.E.) American Council of Education Fellow (Indiana University Purdue University­-Indianapolis Chancellor’s Office/IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy), a (2012­-2013) (A.A.S.C.U.) Association of American Schools and Colleges and Universities Millennium Leadership Initiative Fellow, a (2011-­2012) Tennessee Board of Regents Maxine Smith Fellow (Tennessee Higher Education Commission), a (2011­- 2012) (C.C.C.U.) Consortium of Christian Colleges and Universities rising senior administrative (MELDI) Fellowship, a (2006­-2007) Woodrow Wilson/Career Enhancement Sabbatical Fellow, a (2006­- 2007) Civic Engagement Scholar within the J. McDonald Williams Institute-­Dallas, Texas, a (2005­ – 2007) Lilly Foundation/Center for Christian Studies Fellow (Gordon College, Wenham, MA), a (2004­-2005) non­resident fellow within the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Studies (Harvard University) and a (2003­-Present) Andrew W. Mellon­-Benjamin Mays Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Dr. Johnson is also the editor and author of (7) academic and scholarly books: (2) books on William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, W.E.B. Du Bois: Toward Agnosticism (2008) and Du Bois on Reform: Periodical­-based Leadership for African Americans (2005); co­editor of (4) volumes on American History in the Conflicts in American History Series (2010)–­­Volume 3: Civil War, Volume 4: Reconstruction, Volume 7: The Long Civil Rights Movement and Volume 8: Towards the Next American Century; author of (1) institutional history of a historically black college and university—his alma mater, Johnson C. Smith University—titled, The Yancy Years: the Age of Infrastructure, Technology and Restoration (2008).

In August 1995, Dr. Johnson published an article, the (Raleigh) News and Observer titled, “A Young Man Apart, A World Apart,” which describes his experiences hailing from inner­city Durham, North Carolina. This article along with his other academic writings can be found on his personal website: http://intersectionoffaithandlearning.com.

Dr. Johnson is married to Shemeka Barnes Johnson, and they have two sons, Brian Asa Johnson and Nathan Morgan Qodesh Johnson.