Biography

E. Patrick Johnson is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor at Northwestern University, where he leads one of the world’s top-ranked schools for communication arts and sciences.

As an enterprising scholar, artist, and leader, Johnson has broken ground numerous times in his career, clearing the way for bold ideas and powerful performances. His research and creative projects have shaped public discourse and empowered voices that deserve to be heard, centering communities often pushed to the margins.

Johnson serves as core faculty in the Departments of Performance Studies and Black Studies, with additional appointments in Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies. As a leading scholar, he has published numerous award-winning books and articles, including Black. Queer. Southern. Women. An Oral History (UNC Press, 2018), Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women (Duke University Press, 2019), and Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (UNC Press, 2008).

As an artist, Johnson’s research is not a simple complement to his scholarship, it lives and breathes through it, providing greater depth and understanding for audiences. He has written, produced, and performed award-winning documentary films and  plays that bring his research to life for people around the world.

Johnson is the recipient of numerous awards and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was inducted in the Chicago LGBTQ Hall of Fame for his service to the community.