{"id":2253,"date":"2009-09-03T12:51:29","date_gmt":"2009-09-03T17:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/?p=2253"},"modified":"2017-06-20T10:30:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T15:30:50","slug":"sinclairs-president-johnson-sits-down-with-the-clarion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2009\/09\/03\/sinclairs-president-johnson-sits-down-with-the-clarion\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinclair’s President Johnson sits down with the Clarion"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Steven Johnson was recently named one of the "Top 25 Most Influential People of the Decade in the Dayton Region" by the Dayton Business Journal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Clarion recently sat down with Sinclair Community College president Dr. Steven Johnson for an interview on August 19.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: Give the Clarion readers an idea of who you are off-campus. What are you like outside of Sinclair?<\/p>\n

Dr.<\/strong> Johnson<\/strong>: I have several hobbies. I enjoy playing my guitars. I enjoy playing with my computer\u2014music and video and photos. I am a serious hobbiest photographer.<\/p>\n

So photographer, computer stuff on my new Mac and then my guitar. I also have a flock of chickens and I have a flock of ducks. So that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: With the recent rise in enrollment this fall quarter, what are Sinclair\u2019s plans to adjust to a new wave of students?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: We have opened a lot of additional sections \u2026 I think we\u2019re at about 200 more than we were at a couple of years ago. We\u2019ve hired lots and lots of adjunct faculty. We have not hired lots of staff. I think our staff are working lots and lots of hours for advising, admission and financial aid.<\/p>\n

A lot of the college is just going to be jam packed from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: Are there any negative aspects to rise in enrollment?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: I think the positive and the negative go hand-in-hand. It\u2019s really, really positive that Sinclair is here and has the capacity to serve so many more students. The negative is just the general statement of the economy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just unfortunate that the economy is tough and really hard for so many people, but the good side is a lot of people are coming back for re-training or they\u2019re staying in college because it\u2019s hard to get a job or get a job they want.<\/p>\n

On the good side, at least we\u2019re here and we have good things for them to do so people are not wasting their time and are making progress. And we\u2019re the most affordable college in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: Are there any ways for students to give you feedback?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson: <\/strong>Through the newspaper, through my office, through sending E-mails to the president\u2019s account, through stopping me in the cafeteria or the hallway.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: Do you ever hear any complaints from students?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: Oh gosh, yeah! Do you want a list?<\/p>\n

\u2018Please make a rule outlawing rolling book bags.\u2019 \u2018Please make the elevators go faster.\u2019 \u2018Please make the parking closer.\u2019 \u2018Please lower the cost of textbooks.\u2019<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: You mentioned parking, and that seems to be a problem, obviously. If a concerned student asks you and wonders what the plans are\u2014if there are any plans\u00ad\u2014what would you say to that person?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: What we have done is that we\u2019ve made sure that our parking garage\u2014which is a pretty nice garage\u2014is safe and maintained. Parking garages are pretty expensive to maintain \u2026 we have our shuttle system and the free parking that goes with it. We are looking at other areas to increase parking.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: With the possible re-emergence of swine flu, what steps would Sinclair take if the virus were near Dayton?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: A few years ago we began plans for pandemic and illness response. Last year, when the swine flu popped up, we were able to go back and add to it.<\/p>\n

Madeline (Iseli, director of Government Relations) is one of our leaders in this area.<\/p>\n

We have a evolving plan and what we will do is match the severity of the situation. No one knows what will happen at this point in time. It\u2019s probably not going to be a really bad situation. There probably will be more fear and concern than there is actual illness.<\/p>\n

There is a chance that it could be a very, very serious pandemic with people getting really, really sick. If that\u2019s happens, the range of things could be everything from stepping up the availability of hand sanitizer to potentially cancel some of our events. Worst-case scenario would be to suspend school for several days.<\/p>\n

Even the Center for Disease Control and experts are saying schools are not going to need to close for this.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: You mentioned hiring a lot of adjunct faculty for fall quarter. Why is hiring part-time adjunct higher on the list than full-time faculty?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: One of the reasons is that we wouldn\u2019t want to hire a great number of full-time faculty for a temporary rise in our enrollment and have to then lay them off in a year or two when enrollment goes down.<\/p>\n

One of the things that we are well aware from last recession cycles is that our enrollment has always spiked during a major recession at Sinclair.<\/p>\n

If this enrollment, however, stays at this level we would consider at least some of these adjunct positions into full-time positions.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: If you were a student at Sinclair, and with all the different degree programs that Sinclair offers, what would you look to go in to?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: I like to eat, so I would probably be over in Culinary Arts.<\/p>\n

I like everything. I\u2019m the worst person to ask this because I want to do everything. I could go to arts classes, I could go to photography classes, Culinary Arts, Aviation, AutoTech.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: You\u2019re not mentioning math.<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: I finished my college math career with calculus. I never felt like I mastered it and it\u2019s like hanging over my head. Now I would have to go back to the third-level and start and move forward.<\/p>\n

It would be fun to go back and master calculus. That\u2019s pretty twisted.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: How long will Sinclair\u2019s tuition stay frozen?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: Not very long.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been frozen for about 12 or 13 years out of the last 19 or 20. I\u2019m guessing we are the only college in America\u2014and it would probably be true\u2014that it\u2019s been frozen that much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve likened it to a person who decides to get fit and trim. Sinclair, like 20 years ago, decided that in tuition they were going to be fit and trim and be the lowest, which is really good.<\/p>\n

I think we\u2019re always going to have the lowest tuition in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Clarion<\/strong>: Where do you see the college in five years?<\/p>\n

Dr. Johnson<\/strong>: We will probably be flirting with somewhere between 25-30,000 students. We might have a new building downtown, probably have some additional parking within five years.<\/p>\n

Our learning centers (Englewood, Huber Heights, Preble County and Courseview) will continue to grow and provide more services to students.<\/p>\n

I think we\u2019ll have more international students in five years. I think we\u2019ll have more opportunities for our native students to study abroad, or at least study about international issues that we have now.<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Clarion recently sat down with Sinclair Community College president Dr. Steven Johnson for an interview on August 19. Clarion: Give the Clarion readers an idea of who you are off-campus. What are you like outside of Sinclair? Dr. Johnson: I have several hobbies. I enjoy playing my guitars. I enjoy playing with my computer\u2014music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[592,591,1272,333,590],"class_list":["post-2253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-interview","tag-johnson","tag-joseph-stueve","tag-president","tag-steven"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-Al","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10095,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions\/10095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}