john p johnson became the fifth president of embryriddle aeronautical university erau in 2006 he formerly served as interim president since 2005 and served as provost and chief academic officer since 2003dr johnsons academic career spans 35 years he has served as a university president provost and chief academic officer college dean and academic department chair his appointments have included professorships with tenure at four universities prior to being appointed to his current position at embryriddle in november 2005 dr johnson served as the universitys provost and chief academic officer he held the same position at texas am universitytexarkana dr johnson is an effective and caring teacher with a strong commitment to excellence in the classroom he has taught at all levels and has an extensive publication record his primary areas of research inquiry include speech and hearing science the neurosciences aerospace education and academic leadership he completed postdoctoral programs of study in academic administration at texas am university in college station 1984 and at the budget and control boards executive institute in columbia south carolina 199798 dr johnson served as the honorary national chairman of the silver wings society 200809 for his leadership in aerospace education and research he received the jimmy doolittle fellowship award from the us air force association 2007under his leadership embryriddle became the only university to join the uschina aviation cooperation program he has been effective in expanding embryriddles global presence in addition to its two residential campuses embryriddle now has more than 150 locations in the united states europe asia and the middle east under his stewardship embryriddle was a recipient of the prestigious collier trophy from the national aeronautic association for the development and implementation of adsb technology 2008 working with the federal aviation administration faa and industry leaders like lockheed martin and boeing dr johnson has positioned the university as one of the nations leaders in the development of nextgeneration air traffic management technology dr johnson has given position papers on the future of aerospace education and our national defense in 2008 he began laying the groundwork for the development of a multiuniversity space transportation research and development institute to enhance the commercialization of space exploration dr johnson has been effective in raising extramural funds from local state and federal agencies businesses and foundations he has been very successful in developing new degree programs of study increasing enrollment enhancing research and scholarly productivity and in improving the internal climate and level of collegiality between the faculty and administration at several institutionson a personal level john married maurie rodgers a native texan in 2000 the second marriage for both they have seven grown children and eight grandchildren residing in california texas south carolina and florida john grew up as the son of a career army officer and lived abroad extensively he enjoys playing golf boating traveling and flyingdr johnson received his ba and ms from florida state university before earning his phd from kent state university dr johnson has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of speech and hearing science and biology he served as dean of health professions at the medical university of south carolina dean of professional studies at northern kentucky university chairman of the communication disorders department at lamar university and director of the speech and hearing clinic at bowling green state university he became the provost of texas am universitytexarkana in 1999