Wallace State Names Dr. Beth Bownes Johnson New Dean of Academic Affairs

CONTACT: Russell Moore, Communications and Marketing, Wallace State Community College, 256.352.8443, russell.moore@wallacestate.edu
HANCEVILLE, Ala.–Dr. Vicki Hawsey, president of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Ala., announced the appointment of Dr. Beth Bownes Johnson as Dean of Academic Affairs recently.
Prior to her permanent appointment, Johnson served in the position on an interim basis since last August.
Johnson, who has been employed at Wallace State for 19 years, holds a doctorate in education from the University of Alabama, where she also obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She earned her educational specialist degree from UAB.
“Dr. Beth Bownes Johnson is a highly regarded academician who has the talent and vision to guide our academic programs to even higher levels of excellence in the higher education arena,” said Wallace State President Dr. Vicki Hawsey. “We are fortunate to have her leadership at Wallace State.”
Johnson began her Wallace State career as an English instructor in 1994, teaching composition, developmental and literature courses. She was named the English Department chair in 2005, and assumed the additional responsibilities of scheduling, staffing and coordinating all course offerings, budgeting and purchasing for the department, and providing training and mentoring for the faculty.
In her position as Dean, Johnson will plan and coordinate all aspects of the academic program, set goals, develop policies and plan curriculum, course offerings, requirements, schedules, textbooks and related academic matters. She will monitor budgets, implement procedures regarding recruitment, selection of instructors, professional development and compensation of faculty. She will oversee the faculty in its academic objectives, its progress toward strategic objectives and submit required reports. Johnson will also serve as a liaison with accrediting bodies and represent the president and college to all external groups.
“It is a privilege to serve Wallace State and our community in this role. Moreover, it is an exciting time to take part in the plethora of the college’s new initiatives to buttress student success, such as our totally online AS and AA degrees, our new Poultry Science partnership with Auburn, the One Stop Center, a revised Entrepreneurship program, learning communities that span across all three divisions (as part of our Achieving the Dream focus), and of course, the state-of-the-art School of Nursing and Center for Science,” Johnson said.
Johnson is also an Achieving the Dream Committee chairperson, a member of the SACS On-Site Reaffirmation Committee, and serves on the college’s Executive Cabinet and Administrative Council. Among her many achievements during her Wallace State career, she has been a Chancellor’s Award nominee for Outstanding Faculty, an Alabama Community College Leadership Academy graduate, a two-time Innovator of the Year, and a 2009 NISOD Excellence Award winner among many other accomplishments. She has also had multiple works published throughout her career.
A proponent of online education, she organized the college’s first MOOC (massive open online course) in conversational Spanish, and coordinated the college’s new fully online Associate in Art and Associate in Science degrees.
Wallace State’s Academic Division offers programs leading to an Associate in Arts Degree, an Associate in Science Degree and an Associate in Applied Science Degree, as well as dual enrollment, Fast Track Academy, and early college programs for high school students.
The academic division offers classes in art, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, criminal justice, criminalistics, economics, English, geography, geology, history, humanities, law enforcement, math, music, paralegal, philosophy, physical education, physics, political science, psychology, real estate, religion, sociology, Spanish, speech, sports medicine, theater and visual communications.
Johnson is married to Dean Johnson, a Senior Trust Advisor at PNC Bank, NA. They reside in Cullman and have two sons, both who attended Wallace State as dual enrollment students—Connor, a 2007 Summa Cum Laude graduate from the University of Alabama and a third-year medical student at Harvard Medical School and Brennan, a senior at Alabama, who is on track to graduate in December in pre-law, while serving as Chief of Staff of the SGA and a Blackburn Fellow.
For more information about Wallace State, visit wallacestate.edu.

PHOTO: Dr. Beth Bownes Johnson
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Kristen Holmes
Director, Communications & Marketing
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000, Hanceville, AL 35077
1-866-350-9722 256-352-8118 direct
256-352-8314 fax 256-339-2519 cell
Visit us online at www.wallacestate.edu