Dr. Glen D. Johnson Named Keynote Speaker for OCCC 40th Annual Commencement Ceremonies
May 17 will mark another milestone for many Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) students and the college alike. This year, OCCC will award 1,750 degrees and certificates to graduates and celebrate its 40thannual commencement ceremony. Dr. Glen D. Johnson, Chancellor for the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker. Commencement ceremonies will be held at the Cox Convention Center beginning at 7:30 p.m.
About Dr. Glen D. Johnson
As Chancellor of the Oklahoma State System for Higher Education, Dr. Glen D. Johnson leads the comprised group of 25 colleges and universities, ten constituent agencies, two higher education centers and independent colleges and universities coordinated with the state system.
Johnson became the eighth chancellor of the Oklahoma state system in January 2007 after a national search. Before assuming the role of chancellor, Johnson served as the 16th president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant for ten years. During his tenure as president at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Johnson implemented an $85 million capital campaign to build a new student union, residence hall, arena and convention center, biology building, small business development center and campus security facility, and a new large classroom building.
Johnson has also served as Director of Public Policy and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Prior to his work at the University of Oklahoma, Johnson served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1982 to 1996 and was Speaker of the House from 1990 to 1996. At the time of his election as Speaker, he was the youngest sitting Speaker in the United States.
Johnson is an honors graduate of the University of Oklahoma, with an undergraduate degree in political science and a Juris Doctor degree from the University Of Oklahoma College Of Law. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and currently serves on the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity National Foundation Board of Directors.
He is also a founding member of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence in 1986. He is a member of the Oklahoma Heritage Association’s Executive Board of Directors and was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in November of 2006. He is a member of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum Board of Trustees, a member of the Epworth Villa Board of Directors and the Oklahoma State Fair Board of Directors. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Oklahoma City University in 2009 and has been named as a Life Fellow of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.
Johnson is the son of former United States Congressman Glen D. Johnson, Sr., and Imogene Johnson, and was born in Oklahoma City. He attended grade school in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Muskogee High School in 1972. Johnson and his wife Melinda, a teacher at Edmond Memorial High School, live in Oklahoma City.
For more information on OCCC’s commencement ceremonies, please contact Records and Graduation Services at (405) 682-7512.
