Naomi Johnson’s long-lasting legacy

If you ask Dr. Naomi Johnson if she ever pictured herself working in academia, she will say the idea would make her college professors laugh. Prior to teaching, Johnson worked with a construction news company as a reporter, eventually working her way up to editor, which placed her directly over 120 employees. “I really had a great range of experiences from that job, it really helped me develop as a manager,” she continued.

“During that process, though, I got really tired of it,” said Johnson. Around the same time as Johnson began to lose interest in her job, America was faced with a horrible tragedy; 9/11. “Yeah, that’s one of those moments, kind of like COVID-19, that just changes your perspective about what’s important in life,” replied Johnson. She says after that, she took a step back and thought about what she wanted and what might make her happy. “I realized that working in the corporate world was not it.” 

After deciding a change needed to be made, Johnson embarked on a journey, obtaining her master’s in communication studies from the University of Kansas. Shortly after, she accepted a job teaching communication studies at Longwood University while waiting to begin her doctoral program. She taught for one year, commenting “and in that year I taught here, I fell in love with Longwood.” 

Award winning faculty, professor of Communication Studies at Longwood University, and former department chair, Johnson, “is a beautiful mentor for others,” says colleague Dr. Pam Tracy. Tracy commented that Johnson is constantly working to improve her teaching and “it isn’t about not thinking she knows what she’s doing, it’s truly about being student and learning focused.”

She mentioned she also fell in love with something, or someone else, rather. “He was a strong motivation for coming back here after finishing my PhD,” she said. Johnson finished her doctoral program within three years, she informed, “mostly because I was really eager to get back here!” 

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with her doctorate in communication studies, Johnson decided to come back to Longwood University. “Oh, can I throw in one more thing as to why I wanted to come back?” asked Johnson during our interview. She proceeded to tell me about two colleagues she had worked with during her first year at Longwood; they were Dr. Bill Stuart and Tracy. She continued “and both of them were outstanding mentors to me and became really good friends as well. So the opportunity to work with them was also a real draw”.

Three years into teaching as an assistant professor at Longwood University, Johnson was awarded the Junior Faculty Award, an award spotlighting new educators who go above and beyond for their students and department. An award, her colleagues say, that was well deserved.

On September 9, 2012, during the start of a new semester, tragedy struck the Longwood community. Stuart, the interim department chair, had suddenly died from a heart attack (courtesy of 8News). “It was really hard emotionally,” said Johnson. Tracy also mentioned it being a very traumatic time for everyone involved. Tracy continued, “We met with the students, we sat with them, we talked with them in the class. We stuck together” she said. 

Johnson was asked to become the new department chair after Stuart’s passing. During our interview, I asked Johnson what the transition was like. “I could take what I had previously learned about being a manager and apply it,” she commented. “But to be able to do that while also dealing with my own grief, as well as my colleagues and students…” Looking back, Johnson says she was also filling a role of social support for her colleagues and students, commenting that it was a very stressful time.

“But I also think it was a time that I did some of the most important work I’ve done,” said Johnson. “We had lost the founder of our department, who was like our guiding vision,” she said. It was difficult to find a way forward, she added. In her six-and-a-half-year reign as department chair, she led the department to re-establish the program as a stand-alone department, which meant the department no longer tied itself to the theater program at Longwood. 

In addition, she led initiatives to update the curriculum, established the annual COMM Career Conference, and created the Longwood Event & Meeting Planning certification program (courtesy of LinkedIn). One of her greatest contributions to the Longwood community is her dedicated work towards co-chairing the University Diversity Council and developing the Five-Year Strategic Diversity Plan (courtesy of Blog).

After six-and-a-half-years of leading the department, Johnson handed the position over to Professor Jeff Halliday. Halliday jokingly said that “these aren’t shoes that I’m trying to fill, they’re canoes.” . He continued, “ really is truly because she’s thinking all the time about how she can make the course she’s teaching stronger.” 

Halliday concluded our interview by offering up kind words for his predecessor. “As good as a teacher she is, and she’s an award-winning teacher for a reason; she is ten times that as a colleague.” Ten years later on the same day as winning the junior faculty award, Johnson was awarded the Maude Glenn Raiford teaching award for her excellence in teaching, adding on to her Longwood legacy. 

Jake Chris, a senior, worked closely with Johnson on a project for school during the pandemic. He said that “Naomi Johnson has high expectations for her students and that is part of the reason why I am so successful in her classes.” Johnson continues to strengthen young minds with each new day, leaving a path for others to follow.