Arla Johnson
Arla J. Johnson
If Arla J. Johnson ’03 MAA, ’08 Ph.D. didn’t have her hands full as the executive administrative assistant to the vice president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO, the 39-year-old Kansas native would probably teach full time. She enjoys being in the classroom, co-teaching a qualitative research methods course at UIW with Sr. Dorothy Ettling, CCVI, Ph.D., in the Dreeben School of Education.“I love watching students and seeing the lights go on,” Johnson says. “Even as a teacher, you always learn something new even though you know the subject matter.”
At AFGE, she oversees fiduciary management for more than 150 union locals throughout Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi and Panama.
Johnson, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy education with a concentration in organizational development from UIW, is the president-elect of Alpha Kappa Alpha, an international service organization established in 1908 as the first sorority founded by African American women. She also is president of the Roosevelt Trust that provides safe and affordable living on San Antonio’s Houston Street for low-income seniors.
Being named one of San Antonio Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars was quite an honor, she says. “It was really motivating to see other young people living life to the fullest and in a way that can affect many people.”
Read Howard Lutz’s story on page 3
