PhD, Higher Education & Student Affairs, The Ohio State University

Royel M. Johnson is Associate Professor of Higher Education and Social Work at the University of Southern California. He serves as Co-Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education and is the incoming Editor of The Review of Higher Education.

Johnson's program of research broadly examines how institutional policies, practices, and cultural norms shape access, belonging, and student success in higher education. His work has a particular focus on system-impacted students, including those with experience in foster care, the criminal legal system, and housing instability. He also examines how colleges and universities respond to political pressure on racial equity efforts, and he develops theoretical and methodological tools for studying marginality in higher education.

He is the author or editor of four books and more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and chapters. From Foster Care to College (Teachers College Press) received NASPA's 2026 Outstanding Publication Award. The Big Lie About Race in America's Schools (Harvard Education Press) received the 2026 Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education. His research has been supported by more than $6.5 million in funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

In 2026 he received the Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education from AERA Division G, which also honored him with its Early Career Award in 2022. The Los Angeles Times named him a DEIA visionary in 2023 and 2024.

As founding co-host and executive producer of the ASHE Presidential Podcast, he has convened national conversations with leading scholars on equity, belonging, and the public purposes of higher education. He has also delivered more than 100 invited keynotes and workshops, and outlets including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, the Los Angeles Times, and Education Week regularly seek his expertise. He works with colleges, universities, K–12 systems, and nonprofit organizations to translate research into policy and practice.

Johnson earned a PhD in higher education and student affairs, with a cognate in race and social policy, from The Ohio State University. He holds a BA in political science and an MEd in education policy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Expertise
System-impacted students | Sense of belonging | Racial equity in higher education

Extended bio and CV at USC Rossier