Whitman Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Named NADOHE Fellow

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) recently appointed Whitman College Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion John Johnson, PhD, to its highly selective Chief Diversity Officer Fellows Program. 

Johnson is one of just seven members of the cohort chosen to participate during the 2022-23 academic year. The national leadership program provides mentorship and professional development opportunities for new and early career chief diversity officers. 

“Having access to an experienced mentor will be tremendously valuable and function as an essential professional development and learning opportunity for me,” said Johnson. “The CDO Fellows Program will enhance my ability to identify and respond to the diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges at Whitman, provide guidance to help me avoid common missteps that contribute to CDO burnout, and offer access to an expansive professional network in this field that I can both leverage and contribute to in the future.”

Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of applicants from NADOHE member colleges and universities. Whitman President Kathleen Murray expressed her congratulations to Johnson on this major career milestone. 

“This impressive accomplishment is not only well-deserved but an exciting opportunity that will benefit the Whitman community in myriad ways,” she said. “Whitman College is fortunate to have an expert like Dr. Johnson to guide our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion, and this NADOHE fellowship will offer tools and best practices to further advance that important work.”

Before beginning his role at Whitman in 2021, Johnson served as the director of inclusive excellence learning at California State University, Sacramento. Previously, he directed the centers for diversity and inclusion at Sacramento State and was the inaugural coordinator of the African American Center for Academic Excellence at Humboldt State University. Johnson holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from Ball State and a doctorate in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.