Dr. Kathy Johnson began serving as interim executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of IUPUI in August 2015 and was appointed to the position permanently in July 2016, following a national search. IUPUI is a core campus of Indiana University and the state’s urban research and academic health sciences campus. IUPUI enrolls nearly 28,000 students, including over 8,000 graduate students, with more than 4,000 full-time faculty, an annual budget of $1.7 billion, and external research funding of more than $535 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year, of which $48 million was associated with the School of Medicine. IUPUI offers more than 550 academic programs across 17 degree-granting schools, including the schools of liberal arts and science, as well as professional schools of business, education, law, art and design, health and human sciences, nursing, engineering and technology, public and environmental affairs, dentistry, informatics and computing, social work, public health, philanthropy, and medicine. As executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, Dr. Johnson plays a key leadership role in developing and guiding the implementation of IUPUI's academic plans and programs. Additionally, she oversees the process for the recruitment, hiring and advancement of faculty, including promoting the continued success of the campus's efforts to increase the quality and diversity of its faculty.
Some of Johnson's administrative accomplishments include launching the Institute for Engaged Learning to support the equitable progression of undergraduates through scaffolded curricular and co-curricular pathways, developing the Division of Undergraduate Education as a means of providing more coordination of the academic experience for undergraduates beyond the first year of college; creating the Office of Faculty Diversity and Inclusion; and working with faculty leaders to redesign and better coordinate holistic professional development and support for faculty through the Forum Network. Dr. Johnson also serves as PI for IUPUI's Advance grant funded through the National Science Foundation.
Professor Johnson joined IUPUI in 1993 as an assistant professor of psychology in the School of Science at IUPUI. From 2008 to 2011, she served as chair of the Department of Psychology. From 2011 to 2015, Dr. Johnson served as dean of University College and associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education. Beginning in July 2022, she assumed the role of acting associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education (in addition to her current duties) as a search for a permanent leader is conducted.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Emory University with a Ph.D. in Psychology, specializing in Cognition and Development. She is active across a number of advisory boards and councils, and currently serves as a Fellow with Complete College America and chair of the Executive Committee for APLU's Council on Academic Affairs.
