Dr. Lisa Johnson, born Merri Lisa Johnson in 1972, was raised in Bowdon, Georgia. She received a B.A. in English and French from the University of West Georgia in 1994 when Dr. Johnson fondly remembers the university being called West Georgia College. She continued her education at Ohio University and earned an M.A. in English with a concentration in Women’s Literature in 1996. Her educational journey moved further north where she received a PhD in English and Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in New York, part of the state university of New York (SUNY), in 2000.
Dr. Johnson is the current Director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies at USC Upstate but her passion and advocacy for women’s issues began a little over thirty years ago. Dr. Johnson’s most notable career positions include her exceptional work at Coastal Carolina University where she founded the Women's and Gender Studies program in 2004. Soon after taking the director position at Upstate, she became the president of WGS South, previously known as SEWSA (Southeastern Women's Studies Association), and served on their board for 7 years (2007-2014). She states that her beliefs and her life are an accumulation of every person and every situation that she has encountered throughout her life, but she does place specific appreciation on the particular coworker from CCU who sparked the idea to create the program as well as introduced her to the job postings at USC Upstate. When asked why she has worked so hard for the furthering of women’s history and feminist discussion, Dr. Johnson simply responded with, “I think it’s supposed to be common knowledge really, and then it isn’t! And I’m so… surprised at the things I hear.”
Interviewed by: Ellison Cooper, USC Upstate
