Elizabeth Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, was honored this fall with an Institutional Values Award, the University's highest honor. Dr. Johnson was nominated in the category of Diversity, Human Dignity, and Multicultural/International Involvement.
"Anything we do as educators that is void of the human condition, is void," Dr. Johnson said after receiving her award and telling the lesson of the "The Velveteen Rabbit," a story about unconditional love.

Dr. Johnson has embraced diversity in her teaching, which is chronicled in her book, "We've Gotta Reach 'Em to Teach 'Em: Where Teaching Intersects the Human Condition." She has worked with Native American reservation schools in Arizona, and provided intense professional development to staff and parents.

Her other awards include: People Magazine's Distinction for "Above and Beyond"; Business & Professional Women's "Woman of the Year" award; EMU's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Humanitarian Award; and EMU's Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award.

"There is no individual in my acquaintance who better personifies the highest attributes of quality, collaboration and a commitment to inclusion," said Thomas Gwaltney, an emeritus professor of teacher education, who provided a letter of support for Dr. Johnson. "An overwhelming number of students have confided to me that she is the single-best individual they have ever met, and someone who is a template for furthering diversity on our campus as well as internationally."

Dr. Johnson, an orphaned Native American, and her family were the first in the United States to adopt triplets.

"She witnessed my passion for teaching and reaching those who have been maligned due to exclusion and bias," said Mary Walsh, an EMU graduate student who nominated Dr. Johnson for the award. She took some of Professor Johnson's classes and was recently named runner-up for the National Student Teacher of the Year Award.
– Ron Podell