Barbara J. Johnson, associate professor and chair of the department of counseling, adult, and higher education at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, received the Public Service Award at the annual conference of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education. She was honored for her commitment to the Leadership and Mentoring Institute.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She earned an MBA at Ohio State University and a doctorate in education and human development from Vanderbilt University.
Peter Williams, a professor of fine arts and visual communication at the University of Delaware, received the Wynn Newhouse Award from the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation. The award recognizes the works of artists who have a disability. Wynn Newhouse, an artist who died in 2010, lost a hand as a young man.
Professor Williams lost a leg in an automobile accident when he was a student at the University of New Mexico. He spent seven months in the hospital. He returned to school and earned a bachelor’s degree at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Later he earned a master of fine arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Professor Williams taught painting at Wayne State University in Detroit for 17 years before joining the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2004.
