Jen Johnson, PhD, is an assistant professor of English/English education. Hailing from the Seattle area, they moved to the Bay Area in the 1990s where they earned a BA in Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Since then, they have been an educator for over 23 years; was a co-director of the San José Writing Project; and was a director and coach for urban debate leagues around the country for over a decade.
Dr. johnson earned their doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University; their Master’s in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University; and their Master’s in Philosophy from Columbia University.
Their work is dedicated to leveraging culturally-sustaining-responsive and critical pedagogies, new literacies, debate, and Hip-Hop culture, to cultivate literacies of access and liberation in secondary schools, teaching preparation programs, and college courses in rhetoric, linguistics, and composition. This work grounds their research and creative activity, which has been featured in domestic and international publications.
