In a unanimous vote, the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Friday selected Tonjanita (Tonja) L. Johnson as the next university system president. She will begin on or about Jan. 1.
Johnson, 57, is currently senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the University of Alabama System, a position she has held since 2019.
Following a series of public forums, she was recommended to the full Board of Regents by the Presidential Search Committee.
Johnson will be the 10th president of the Universities of Wisconsin.
“It is an extreme honor,” Johnson said in a video statement. “I think I’m more humbled than anything when I think about the opportunity to serve the Universities of Wisconsin and to serve the citizens of this state.”
Johnson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in urban higher education from Jackson State University.
Renée Wachter will continue to serve as interim president until Johnson takes office and then return to the chancellorship of the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
“I grew up in Butler, Alabama, Choctaw County, and that’s in West central Alabama and the town that I’m from really shaped my perspective on so much of what I do in higher education,” she said in the video. “When I think about where I grew up and where I am from, it really inspires me because I know that there are so many other places across this country, across
Wisconsin, where the same values that I learned from hard work, service to others, engagement and really putting knowledge to work, that was important and I look forward to sharing those very same values as I engage in this new role as president of the Universities of Wisconsin.”
Johnson said serving on the faculty while she is leading the system “is important to me because I really like engaging with students. I don’t ever think that even as an administrator, we should never get too far from understanding what motivates students, what challenges our students face, and the things that we can do to improve the student experience.”
