Senior Vice President for University Relations Marj Johnson will be retiring at the end of this academic year. We will recognize Marj for her years of service at the Spring Service Award Ceremony and reception.
Marj has served SPU faithfully and competently since 1981. Over those 33 years she has held a number of increasingly responsible positions and for the last 23 years has been part of the senior administrative leadership of the University. Marj began her career at SPU as director of admissions and was promoted to dean of enrollment Services in 1986 and then to vice president for enrollment services in 1991. In 1996, she was named vice president for university relations. From 1991 to 2002, she also served as assistant to the president, taking on special planning and communication duties on behalf of the university president. In recognition of her increased role, she was named vice president for administration and university relations in 2003, and then in 2012 she was named a senior vice president. Her current duties include administrative leadership over undergraduate and graduate admissions and marketing, student financial services, advancement services, alumni and parent relations, and university communications.
Marj was a leader in several professional organizations, including the Colloquia for Senior Enrollment Leaders for the National Association of Christian College Admissions Personnel (NACCAP). In recognition of her leadership, NACCAP named her “Enrollment Officer of the Year” in 1998. She also chaired the Commission of Chief Enrollment Officers for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) for two of her seven years of service on the commission.
The one constant through the 33 years is that she has had responsibility for recruiting and enrolling students. During this time, the University has enjoyed sustained growth as depicted by the following chart illustrating the growth over the last 22 years.
In addition to undergraduate enrollment, she has supervised student financial aid for over two decades and has ensured that students of need and achievement were supported with scholarship and grants to pursue their academic goals at SPU. She led the effort in the mid-1980s to create a “one-stop shopping” model for all enrollment activities that unified admissions, registration, student academic services, student accounts, financial aid and supporting institutional research. Within a decade, many colleges and universities throughout the nation adopted this “one-stop” enrollment model.
Marj has been responsible for planning most of the successful high profile events of the University from inaugurations to downtown concerts. She has led the development of a nationally recognized, and now widely emulated, communication and institutional positioning program. The publications that Marj has led, changed, nurtured, edited and supported such as Response and etc have received many awards for creativity and excellence and furthered awareness of the SPU story. Also, she led the major redesign of the SPU website beginning in 2007.
Colleagues who have worked closely with Marj over the years have high respect for her good judgment, work ethic, and integrity. They knew she could not only handle complex assignments but also that her work would be carried out with a deep commitment to excellence.
Please join me in thanking Marj for her many accomplishments and wish her well. There will be an opportunity to do so at the reception following the annual Awards and Recognition Ceremony on May 22.