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Dr. Tonjanita Johnson serves as Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for The ÖíÖíapp and is the primary system liaison to academic, student, institutional research and planning officials at UA, UAB, and UAH. She also advises the Chancellor on academic and student policy matters and provides primary leadership in academic program planning, implementation, and review. Additionally, Dr. Johnson has a graduate faculty appointment within the University of Alabama College of Education and serves as the System’s liaison with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and other state, regional, and national educational entities.

Prior to joining the UA System leadership team, Dr. Johnson served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for the University of Tennessee System. Over the course of her tenure, she had executive oversight of several system-level offices and processes, including Academic Affairs and Student Success, Institutional Research, Human Resources, Facilities Planning and Capital Projects, Communications and Marketing, Enterprise Risk Management, and Strategic Planning, among other areas. Having served as a cabinet-level administrator for more than two decades, Dr. Johnson has also held administrative and faculty appointments at a diverse set of other institutions, including the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Middle Tennessee State University, and Mississippi Valley State University.

Dr. Johnson began her college career at The University of Alabama in 1987 as a New York Times Scholar. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UA in mass communication in 1991 and 1996, respectively, and is recognized as a two-time distinguished alumna of the College of Communication and Information Sciences. In 2006, she earned a Ph.D., in urban higher education from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was an Ayers Fellow in the Jake Ayers Institute for Urban Research. Dr. Johnson, who is Six Sigma Master Black Belt Certified, also completed the Institute for Education Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2008 and earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in construction management from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2017.

Over her career, Dr. Johnson has maintained a highly active volunteer and speaking schedule. She has been a charter member of the University of Alabama Library Leadership Board for more than 20 years and serves as a member of the Alabama Productivity Center Advisory Board, and the Tuscaloosa/West AL Regional Council of Leadership Alabama. Additionally, Dr. Johnson is a former member of the international Board of Trustees for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (2018-2022) and the CASE Commission for Communication and Marketing (2014-2017).

A native of Butler, Alabama (Choctaw County), Dr. Johnson and her husband, Tony, have a daughter, T’Anna Gabrielle, who is a graduate student at DePaul University in Chicago.