Dr. Johns joined Samford University in 2015 and currently serves as administrative faculty, Senior Associate Provost, and SACSCOC Liaison. Dr. Johns came to Samford after 16 years with Faulkner University, where she served as Professor of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Prior to assuming leadership roles in that office, she served as the Director of Faulkner’s Institutional Review Board and Faculty College. She has developed and taught hybrid and fully online courses in the subjects of leadership, administration and law.
Her lengthy list of professional specializations includes experience working with regulatory and accrediting agencies, serving as a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges committee chair, special reader, and peer reviewer, leading successful education technology initiatives and developing, implementing and assessing campus-wide strategic plans.
Before transitioning to leadership in higher education, Dr. Johns worked as an attorney with the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and in private practice, focusing predominantly on the fields of regulatory law (Medicaid), probate, estate planning and domestic relations.
Dr. Johns holds a JD from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University, MA in Higher Education Administration from Louisiana State University, MA in Public Administration (nonprofit emphasis) and a BA in History, both from Auburn University Montgomery.
Dr. Johns has shared her legal, educational, and administrative expertise in more than a dozen volunteer roles, from university task forces and academic committees to the Alabama State Bar. She has served as a peer reviewer for the American Association for Paralegal Education’s national journal as well as publishing and/or presenting numerous works with a higher education focus.
Her list of awards and special recognitions include Faulkner University’s Outstanding Educator of 2009, a special 2014 proclamation from the Faulkner University Board of Trustees recognizing her service in successfully implementing its eCampus program, and Samford University’s Joe Lewis Faculty Scholar Award in 2021.
