DUBOIS – After 32 years of teaching and research, and dozens of published articles and awards,
Penn State DuBois Professor of Psychology John Johnson will retire at the end of this semester.
Johnson has taught at Penn State DuBois since 1981, earning his full professorship in 1995. He completed a research fellowship at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. He was previously an instructor at Johns Hopkins Evening College and Towson State University.
He is a member of several professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, and the European Association of Personality Psychology. He completed his undergraduate work at Penn State, and earned his masters and Doctorate in psychology at John Hopkins University.
Johnson has published numerous papers in academic journals. Last year he and a group of coauthors published the book Graphing Jane Austen: The Evolutionary Basis of Literary Meaning, which examines literature’s effects on human psychology. In 2011, the Dutch IT company iTUDE released a personality test app for the iPhone and iPad that Johnson designed.
Recently, Johnson’s colleagues gathered to wish him well and celebrate his career. At that retirement party Johnson expressed his appreciation for the relationships and experiences he’s had while at the campus. He said, “What I really want to emphasize is the gratitude I feel about the opportunity to be here.”
As a Penn State graduate, Johnson had a dream in graduate school of becoming a Penn State professor. “I have always been a Penn Stater and I always will be a Penn Stater,” Johnson said. “By becoming a Penn State professor, I fulfilled my most precious career dream. How many people can say that? I’m so lucky.”
Addressing the colleagues, past and present who worked alongside him and supported him through the years Johnson said, “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being part of my dream come true.”