Education
Five Things to Know About Kristina Johnson The Ohio State University’s 16th president
K
ristina Johnson is The Ohio State University’s 16th president in the school’s history. Johnson began her tenure on Aug. 24, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, after serving as chancellor of the 64-campus State University of New York for three years. “Ohio State has always been a special place to me – well beyond its standing as one of the most respected teaching, research and patient-care institutions in the world,” Johnson says in a statement to the public. “I am humbled to be selected to lead this great land-grant university, and I look forward to meeting with students, faculty and staff to begin our work together.” Here are some interesting background facts about OSU’s new president: 12
cityscenecolumbus.com | September/October 2020
Love or Hate Avatar? Thank Johnson Johnson is an inventor and has more than 100 U.S. and international patents. During her tenure as a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she cofounded and served as CEO of ColorLink, which developed microdisplays and color polarizing technology. ColorLink, which became part of RealD, helped develop the 3-D glasses used in more than 300 films such as Avatar and spurring the 3-D film industry in 2005. An Emmy nominee Also during her tenure at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Johnson was nominated for a regional Emmy award for The Physics of Light, a 10-part educational television series for middle school students in the Rocky Mountain region.
Johnson and wife Veronica Meinhard
A first of many Johnson was the first woman to serve as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, first female dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and first female professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition, Johnson was the first openly gay chancellor at SUNY and will be the first openly gay president of OSU.
Photos courtesy of The Ohio State University and State University of New York
By Brandon Klein
