*Submitted Biography
Dr. Tonjanita Johnson serves as Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for The University of Alabama System, which includes three doctoral research universities–The University of Alabama (UA), The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)–as well as the UAB Health System. The System enrolls more than 71,500 students, is Alabama’s largest employer, and generates an annual economic impact exceeding $18 billion. As a member of the System’s senior leadership team, Dr. Johnson advises the Chancellor and Board of Trustees on academic, student affairs, and faculty policy and leads system-wide efforts in academic planning, program review, institutional effectiveness, and continuous improvement. She also holds a graduate faculty appointment in the UA College of Education and serves as the System’s primary liaison to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and other state, regional, and national education and policy organizations.
Prior to joining the UA System, Dr. Johnson served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the University of Tennessee System, the second-ranking executive position in a statewide land-grant university system, then with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Martin; a health science center in Memphis; the Space Institute in Tullahoma; and statewide institutes of agriculture and public service, extending the university’s reach into all 95 Tennessee counties. In this role, she provided executive oversight for a broad portfolio of system-wide functions, including academic affairs and student success, institutional research, human resources, facilities planning and capital projects, communications and marketing, enterprise risk management, and strategic planning. Across more than two decades of executive and cabinet-level leadership in public higher education, she has also held senior administrative and faculty appointments at Stony Brook University (AAU), Middle Tennessee State University (comprehensive university), and Mississippi Valley State University (HBCU).
Dr. Johnson began her collegiate journey as a New York Times Scholar at The University of Alabama, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mass communication. She earned a doctorate in Urban Higher Education from Jackson State University, where she was an Ayers Fellow in the Jake Ayers Institute for Urban Research. She holds Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification, completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and holds a post-baccalaureate certificate in Construction Management from Louisiana State University.
An active professional and civic leader, Dr. Johnson serves on the National Association of Higher Education Systems AI Advisory Board and was recently appointed to The Commission on Colleges and Universities Credit Transfer Consortium Operations Negotiating Committee. She also serves on the Leadership Alabama Board of Directors, the Alabama Productivity Center Advisory Board and is a charter member of The University of Alabama’s Library Leadership Board. A former member of the international Board of Trustees of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Dr. Johnson was named a CASE Laureate in 2024.
She currently resides in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with her husband, Dr. Tony Johnson, an executive business consultant and former professional athlete.