Contributions by Scholars of Color Interview Series: Highlights from Dr. Ollie Johnson of Wayne State University
Dr. Ollie Johnson is chair and professor of the Department of African American Studies at Wayne State University. In this interview, Dr. Johnson reflects on his upbringing, introduction to political science, and various challenges he faced in his career, and additionally shares advice for young scholars in the discipline.
“A good leader thinks about the main goals of the organization, or the group, or the department… So, I think listening, paying attention to the membership, recognizing that there usually isn’t one way or the highway. There usually are good ideas coming from diverse areas. And I think that’s what I’ve learned. I’ve just always embraced this notion of excellence and diversity, that we really can be the best we can be while being inclusive, and that, in fact, being inclusive will help us be the best we can be.”
This interview was conducted by APSA’s Executive Director and former Senior Director for DEI and Strategic Initiatives, Kimberly Mealy, at the NCOBPS Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California on March 15, 2024.
‣ Watch the full interview series on YouTube
As part of an ongoing series examining contributions of Scholars of Color, the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department conducted a series of oral history interviews during the 2024 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting held in Los Angeles, California. This collection of interviews contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the profession and investigate the history of race and racism in the political science profession. It further builds upon the APSA-Pi Sigma African American Alpha Oral History Project (1988-1994) and is motivated by the McClain Task Force on Systemic Inequality in the Discipline (2022). Each interview premiered at the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will be shown at the 2025 NCOBPS Annual Meeting.