President's Biography
Alex Johnson
President, Community College of Allegheny County
Alex Johnson, president of the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), previously served as chancellor of Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to this post, he was president of the Metropolitan campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Johnson is concentrating on seven key initiatives that deserve both short- and long-term focus as he begins work at CCAC. These initiatives include emphasizing the importance of the college’s 10 campuses and centers as part of a one-college whole, focusing on a learning-centered environment and leading the effort to address the region’s workforce and economic development needs.
He is also continuing to strengthen CCAC’s commitment to diversity, expanding recognition of the college’s regional impact and rank as college of first choice through a public awareness campaign, and focusing on building and updating facilities needed for innovative learning. Finally, Dr. Johnson is working to strengthen the college’s financial position by ensuring that effective and efficient budget management processes are in place while expanding existing revenue streams and pursuing new ones.
He served as keynote speaker of the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch’s 54th Annual Human Rights Dinner, “Standing Strong in Times of Adversity,” in May 2008. In addition, Dr. Johnson serves on the Boards of WQED Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Hill House Association, and Campus Compact.
While in New Orleans, Dr. Johnson served on multiple local and regional boards and advisory committees. Following Hurricane Katrina, he contributed his expertise to the recovery of New Orleans as a member of several steering committees of Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s “Bring New Orleans Back Commission.” Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco also appointed Dr. Johnson to the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
Nationally, he serves on the board of the National Campus Compact and the National Advisory Board for CCSSE, and was on the board of the American Council on Education (ACE) and served on the ACE Commissions on Women and Effective Leadership. With the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), he served on the Research and Minority Affairs commissions. Dr. Johnson was also a board member with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and acted as a Work Group Chair with the National Articulation and Transfer Network (NATN). He was the only community college representative on the BEST (Building Engineering and Science Talent) Blue Ribbon Panel.
Dr. Johnson is a recipient of many honors, including Phi Theta Kappa’s President of the Year Award, the Frank G. Jackson Visionary Award, the Innovator of the Year Award from the League for Innovation, and two President’s Awards from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS). He was awarded the Philadelphia Bowl by the City Council of Philadelphia in recognition of his contributions to society and honored by ACE for his service as Chair of the Council of ACE Fellows.
Dr. Johnson has published extensively on topics concerning higher education administration and has presented numerous times at conferences around the nation. He is a Visiting Scholar with the University of Texas Community College Leadership Program.
He holds a doctorate from the Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree from Lehman College and a bachelor’s degree from Winston-Salem State University. Dr. Johnson has honorary degrees from the Community College of Philadelphia and Our Lady of Holy Cross College. He completed the Executive Leadership Institute of the League for Innovation, the Management Development Program at Harvard University and was an ACE Fellow.