Oklahoma State System of Higher Education Chancellor Glen D. Johnson was recently honored by the Oklahoma Academy with a 2021 Oklahoma Key Contributor Award during the 28th Annual Oklahoma Academy Salute at the Tulsa Renaissance Hotel.
The Oklahoma Academy’s Key Contributor Award recognizes individuals who have given generously of themselves to support the organization’s events, public policy recommendations and implementation efforts.
“I feel privileged to receive this recognition from the Oklahoma Academy,” said Johnson. “Public service has been my life’s goal as I have focused on representing and advocating for Oklahoma higher education at the state and national level. It is an honor to be recognized by a group whose goals are to educate Oklahomans about public policy in order to equip them to take a proactive role in civic leadership.”
Johnson was named chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education in January 2007 following a national search. Before assuming the role of chancellor, he served as the 16th president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant for 10 years. He was also director of public policy and adjunct professor of law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Prior to his work at OU, he served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1982 to 1996 and was speaker of the House from 1990 to 1996. At the time of his election as speaker, he was the youngest sitting speaker in the United States. Johnson is an honors graduate of OU with an undergraduate degree in political science and a juris doctorate from the OU College of Law, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2016. Johnson received the State Higher Education Executive Officers’ (SHEEO) Exceptional Leader Award honoring the outstanding Chancellor/system-head in the nation in July 2019. In September 2020, he received Leadership Oklahoma’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Each year, the Academy “salutes” Oklahoma’s Congressional Delegation, Governor, Lt. Governor, Cabinet Secretaries and other statewide elected and appointed officials, along with key leaders in the legislature during the gala event.