Julie Johnson ’82, a member of the Board of Trustees at Dickinson wants students to know that “[the Board of Trustees] are just the future you.”

Johnson was a biology major during her time here at Dickinson. She also worked at the tutoring center and participated in “Chore and Club,” the then equivalent to the current Multi-Organizational Board (MOB).

During her time here, Johnson was most influenced by her first-year advisor. Johnson came from a high school with a class size of 91 people and her advisor “was just really good at helping me [Johnson] get perspective and not get overwhelmed with this sort of transition to a really different learning environment.”

Johnson’s favorite things about Dickinson from when she was a student continue to be her favorites today. Johnson enjoys sitting on the academic quad “especially in the fall, when [she] can grab a red chair.” She also likes to sit in the library “when [she] come[s] here [Dickinson] for board meetings, [she] will actually go over and just sit in one of the alcoves.”

Johnson is currently a program director for the National Science Foundation. She helps people get grants from the organization for ideas regarding the advancement for formal STEM learning or “how people learn in context, not just in school but across the life span.”

One of Johnson’s favorite parts of her job is “the conversations [she has] with people who are thinking about applying to the foundation” because “if [she] ask[s] the right kind of question, [she] get[s] them to think about what are the possibilities of their ideas.”

Johnson also enjoys the conversations she has with her colleges because they are knowledgeable in different areas and this allows Johnson to continue to learn.

As a Board of Trustees’ member, Johnson would really like students to know that the trustees really do care about Dickinson and that many, if not all of them, went to school at the college. Johnson views her time on the board as “[her]continued way of giving back in a different way to Dickinson.”