Melissa Johnson

Melissa C. Johnson is Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and an affiliate faculty member in the English Department at The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to this role, Johnson was Professor and Chair of the Department of Focused Inquiry in the University College of Virginia Commonwealth University. She is committed to equitable student success in higher education and has been involved in multiple initiatives to address opportunity gaps for minoritized and marginalized student populations. As a first-generation college student herself, she has advanced efforts to recognize, celebrate, and support first-generation students at both VCU and Penn State. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and fine arts, a MFA in poetry, and a Ph.D. in twentieth-century British literature and Women’s Studies.