---

Jamil D. Johnson, Ph.D. serves as the Associate Director for Research and Grants at The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. In this role, Johnson is responsible for maintaining the research agenda of The National Resource Center while developing and sustaining partnerships with student affair, higher education, and research organizations across the United States and abroad. He also has oversight of concurrent and future research projects being conducted or participated in by The Center. Johnson also applies for grants to support the scholarship of The Center and has oversight of the Paul P. Fidler Research Grant (awarded annually). Johnson is currently planning for the dissemination of the 2023 National Survey on the First-Year Experience (NSFYE) and will serve as Editor of the published text. He is also an Editorial Review Board member of the Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition. Johnson also has a faculty appointment as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policies in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina with a focus in student affairs and higher education administration.

Johnson’s scholarship examines the experiences of African American males through the PK-20 educational pipeline with a particular focus on their academic success in undergraduate and graduate programs. Johnson has published and presented at national and international conferences on scholarship related to his research agenda: access and participation of historically underrepresented and marginalized students in higher education, Black and Latinx student success, the first-year experience, first-year seminars, teaching and learning pedagogy, and mentoring.

Previously, Johnson served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. For six years, he served in a dual role as a higher education administrator responsible for student success initiatives in the first-year seminar program and as a graduate faculty scholar in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida.

Educational Background

• Doctor in Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Master in Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Bachelor of Arts, History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Selected Presentations

(Complete listing in CV)

Johnson, J.D., Berry, T.R., Booker, A. (2022, March). Improving the Academic Success of Black Undergraduate Students; AAC&U 2022 Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Student Success. New Orleans, LA.

Johnson, J.D. (2022, February). Impact of first-year seminars for African American males. Accepted presentation; Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience (FYE). Orlando, FL.

Johnson, J.D. (2021, November). African American male voices from the field: From the Ph.D. to Assistant Professor. American Educational Studies Association (AESA), Portland, OR.

McLaren Turner, C., Wilkerson, A., Johnson, J.D. (2021, November). Catalyzing transfer student success through peer academic coaching. Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), San Juan, PR.

Johnson, J.D. (2021, February). Critical role of peer mentoring in first-year seminars. Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience (Conference held virtually due to COVID-19).

Clark, M. H., Babayigit, S, Krsmanovic, M., & Johnson, J. D. (2020, October). Untangling the web of evidence from an exploratory factor analysis [Paper presentation]. American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference, Portland, OR. https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=796

Publications

Azizova, Z. T., Clark, M.H., Krsmanovic, M., Johnson, J. D., Mendez, J. (2021). Retention and Academic Achievement of Students of Color at a Large Urban Hispanic-Serving Institution. Journal of Latinos and Education, DOI: 10.1080/15348431.2021.1976184

Mendez, J. P., Johnson, J. D., Azizova, Z. T., Clark, M.H., & Krsmanovic, M. (2020). Widening the pathway to a degree: The impact of first-year seminar courses at an emerging Hispanic serving institution. Journal of First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, 32(2).

Krsmanovic, M., Cox, T., & Johnson, J. D. (2020). Who improves most? The differences in first-year students’ learning attitudes and behaviors measured by college success factor index. Journal of the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning, 20(4).

Johnson, J. D., & Krsmanovic, M. (2018). Transforming first-year students into life-long learners through first-year seminar practices. Adult Higher Education Alliance. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED590267.pdf [pdf]