Seminary of the Southwest is excited to announce that Dr. Marlon Johnson, Assistant Professor of Counselor Education, has been appointed Dean of Community Life at Southwest. In this role, Dr. Johnson will work alongside the Dean and President to create a healthy, vibrant, diverse, and spiritually rich community life at the seminary. Dr. Johnson will continue with his teaching responsibilities as a member of the faculty.
“I can’t imagine a better person for this position than Marlon Johnson,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, dean and president. “He embodies the dispositions of wisdom and care, he radiates a joyful energy, and he displays the skill set of an exceptional counselor. He recently ran a very successful Racial Healing Initiative in which he gathered mental health professionals and church leaders from around central Texas to help them incorporate practices of individual and collective racial healing into their vocational contexts. Marlon is well respected by our whole community and will provide the leadership we need as we build a common life that reflects the goodness and expansive compassion of God. I can’t wait to begin our work together.”
The Dean of Community Life has oversight of the seminary’s beloved community initiatives, which focus on building diversity, creating belonging, and nurturing a common life that respects the voices and viewpoints of everyone on campus. Special attention is paid to the inclusion of historically marginalized communities. The position facilitates communication between the various internal constituencies of the seminary, organizes formation-focused community events, coordinates responses to community concerns, attends to the needs of spouses and families, and ensures that students and faculty from all degree programs are invited and included in community life programming, efforts, and care.
“I’m elated to continue cultivating inclusion and belongingness at Seminary of the Southwest through this role,” said Dr. Johnson. “As Dean of Community life, my hope is to provide opportunities for our entire community to tell the story of what it means to live and learn on this campus.”
As Dean of Community Life, Dr. Johnson will lead a pastoral care team that includes campus chaplains and the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Services, and acts as a liaison to the Southwest Student Council. Institutionally, the dean of community life chairs the Community Life Committee, chairs the Diversity Committee, sits on the Safety Committee, and is a member of the President’s Cabinet.
Dr. Johnson has been on the faculty of Seminary of the Southwest since 2019. He is a licensed professional counselor with a focus on narrative and child-centered play therapy techniques. He completed his PhD in counselor education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in Fall, 2019. Johnson served as a 2018 doctoral fellow for the National Board of Certified Counselors and as the Tennessee Counseling Association’s NBCC Liaison. His research centers on recruitment experiences for African-American men into counseling programs, the intersectionality of LGBTQ identity and faith orientation, continuing multicultural counselor education, and college and career readiness in rural Appalachia. He will begin in this role ahead of the Fall 2024 semester.
