Melissa Johnson
Interim Director University of Florida
- Gainesville FL
Melissa Johnson is a scholar-practitioner focusing on building meaningful, data-informed opportunities for high achieving students.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
Margaritaville to Gainesville
Florida Gator print
2025-05-08
Professor Melissa Johnson (Ph.D. ’12) devised a new course on a famous quasi-Floridian last fall. Johnson realized her little course had serendipitously tapped into the cultural phenomenon that is James William Buffett.
500K Strong: Profiles of The Gator Nation's newest alumni
Gator Nation News online
2025-05-07
To commemorate the exceptional class of 2025 and this historic alumni landmark, we selected five students who illustrate many of the best traits of what it means to be a Gator. The pillars these students exemplify were based on the four figures found on the hammer-beam ends along the interior of UF’s historic University Auditorium. Each showcases a symbol of the university’s student population during the building’s construction in the 1920s: scholar, musician, engineer and athlete.
Personalized, handwritten cards welcome honors students to Gator Nation
UF News online
2025-03-14
March 14 marks the University of Florida’s regular admission day, formally inviting students nationwide and internationally to join Gator Nation. A select group of academically devoted students will not only be accepted into UF’s prestigious Honors Program, but they will also receive a special delivery in the mail.
Wasting away again in Gainesville? New Jimmy Buffett course comes to UF
UF News online
2024-08-30
It’s always 5 o’clock in the University of Florida’s Jimmy Buffett course, (Un)Common Arts: “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” even though it starts at 5:10 p.m. The one-credit honors elective – a tribute to the late musician and named after one of his songs – is new, and instructor Melissa L. Johnson, Ph.D., believes it is the first Jimmy Buffett college course in Florida (and possibly in the country).
UF named Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Students
UF News online
2023-02-10
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs named the University of Florida a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Students for the first time in 10 years. This recognition is given to the U.S. colleges and universities that received the highest number of applicants selected for the 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Eleven students from UF were selected for Fulbright awards for academic year 2022-2023.
UF Honors program associate director elected to National Collegiate Honors Council
UF News online
2018-08-30
Dr. Melissa Johnson, associate director of the UF Honors Program, has been elected as a Fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). The NCHC Fellows are hard-working members of honors education and strive to make an impact in the honors community nationally.
Social
Articles
Empowering Honors Education: A Joint Initiative for Teaching Excellence and Curriculum Enhancement
National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph SeriesBitton-Bailey, et al.
2025-05-16
Although classroom teaching is a vital way in which faculty engage with students, the emphasis in faculty roles often focuses more on research. In addition, the teaching and learning landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speeds, and faculty are expected to adopt innovative pedagogies and adapt to technological changes, often with
insufficient professional development that impacts the quality of courses and learning experiences.
Online research group supervision: Structure, support and community
Innovations in Education and Teaching InternationalKumar, et al.
2021-11-25
his article focuses on online research group supervision in an online doctoral programme. The analysis of interviews with 10 graduates supervised online in research groups of 4–6 students during the dissertation process highlighted how supervisors structured and supported individual and group research development and progress, leading to perceived sense of online community.
Online mentoring of dissertations: the role of structure and support
Studies in Higher EducationKumar & Johnson
2017-06-12
This study focused on the mentoring experiences of 10 faculty members during the dissertation stage of two online professional doctoral programs. Interview data provided insight into the strategies used by the professors in the areas of virtual communication, research design and dissertation development, and psychosocial support, and the challenges they faced during the online mentoring of dissertations. The findings emphasize the importance of structure and scaffolds both in research education and in interactions in the online environment, due to the absence of opportunities for research apprenticeship and on-campus mentoring.
Media
