Paula Johnson in the News

Cover of the novel "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois" by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers.

President Paula Johnson was one of 56 leaders invited by Bloomberg Businessweek to talk about their favorite book of the year. She chose "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois" by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. Johnson notes: "This epic first novel by poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is the coming-of-age story of Ailey Pearl Garfield—smart, funny and blunt—as she finds her calling as a historian. Moving backwards through time, this novel also captures the full sweep of the history and horrors of the American South and the incredible courage of many of its Black women through its lyrical and powerful prose."

Portrait of Freeman A. Hrabowski III, who led the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for 30 years.

President Paula A. Johnson comments to The New York Times on the retirement of long-time friend and colleague Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who transformed a onetime commuter school into the country’s strongest pipeline of Black graduates in science, technology, engineering and math. President Johnson met Dr. Hrabowski years ago as a young faculty member at Harvard, when he was receiving an honorary degree and she was assigned to act as his host. He had specifically asked for a professor of color. “He is always thinking about his role, not just in terms of the honor he’s getting, but who else he can include and advance. He is continuously paying it forward, in big and small ways,” she said.

Screen shot of quote by Paula Johnson: “This is a national problem that is, quite frankly..."

60% of college kids are living with mental health issues, writes Fortune. Students’ mental health is a major issue for employers as well, says Paula Johnson, president of Wellesley College. If students don’t have the tools and support in place to manage their mental health in college and beyond, they can face lifelong employment struggles.

Woman with microphone leads a protest in front of the Supreme Court building.

Higher ed leaders decry the overturning of Roe v. Wade, including Wellesley's President Paula A. Johnson.

Protest in front of the Supreme Court building.

Six college presidents penned a letter to the editor of the New York Times about the Supreme Court abortion: Sian Leah Beilock, Barnard College; Elizabeth H. Bradley, Vassar College; Kimberly Cassidy, Bryn Mawr College; Paula A. Johnson, Wellesley College; Kathleen McCartney, Smith College; and Sonya Stephens, Mount Holyoke College.

The presidents of the Seven Sisters Colleges—except for Radcliffe College, which no longer exists as a college—have issued a joint statement on the Supreme Court decision that threw out Roe v. Wade.

Paula A. Johnson being awarded an honorary degree at the UMass Chan Medical School's 49th Commencement.

Paula A. Johnson was awarded an honorary degree at the UMass Chan Medical School's 49th Commencement on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Watch the video made for the occasion honoring her life and accomplishments.

Paula A. Johnson was awarded a 2022 Distinguished Bostonian award.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce honored four local leaders last week with the chamber’s annual “Distinguished Bostonian” award. Three were on hand to accept: Wellesley College president Paula Johnson, former Massport chief executive Tom Glynn, and Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of housing and education nonprofit Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción in the South End.

President Johnson was featured on Fortune's Brainstorm Health panel, a gathering of insightful and powerful leaders exploring the topics of health, science, medicine, and business.