The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents voted unanimously on Friday to hire Dr. Tonjanita “Tonja” Johnson, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the University of Alabama System, as the 10th president in the system’s history. Johnson grew up in Butler, the Choctaw County seat, population roughly 1,700.
She will run 13 universities, 164,500 students and 41,000 employees starting on or about January 1. Wisconsin regents fired her predecessor, Jay Rothman, in April after four years on the job. Johnson beat out finalists from the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee System for the post.
Johnson has held the UA System’s top academic job since 2019, overseeing academic affairs and student success across UA, UAB and UAH. Before that she was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the University of Tennessee System, second in command to its president.
She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mass communication from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. from Jackson State University. Her husband, Dr. Tony Johnson, played tight end for the Crimson Tide from 1992 to 1995, including the 1992 national championship season, and spent three seasons with the New Orleans Saints.
Johnson put her hometown at the center of her introduction to Wisconsin in a video posted by the system.
“I grew up in Butler, Alabama, Choctaw County, and that’s in West Central Alabama. And the town that I am from really shaped my perspective on so much of what I do in higher education,” Johnson said. “And when I think about where I grew up and where I am from, it really inspires me because I know that there are so many other places across this country, across Wisconsin, where the same values that I learned for hard work, service to others, engagement, and really putting knowledge to work, that was important. And I look forward to sharing those very same values as I engage in this new role as president of the Universities of Wisconsin.”
“It is an extreme honor. I think I’m more humbled than anything when I think about the opportunity to serve the universities of Wisconsin and to serve the citizens of this state,” she said.
Johnson said she intends to keep teaching.
“Serving as a faculty member even while I’ve been in leadership is important to me because I really like engaging with students,” she said. “I don’t ever think that even as an administrator, we should never get too far from understanding what motivates students, what challenges our students face, and the things that we can do to improve the student experience.”
“I’m looking forward to making more possible, making more possible for our students, making more possible for our communities and our state, and that’s what I’m going to be about, and that’s what I’m hoping that people will join me in doing, making more possible,” Johnson said.
Wisconsin is not the first state to come calling. Minnesota State named Johnson one of two finalists for its chancellor’s job in 2023 before choosing a sitting president from inside its own system.
Johnson is the second senior departure from the UA System’s leadership team in two years. The Board of Trustees appointed Sid J. Trant chancellor in February 2025 after Finis St. John stepped down. Trant has not named a successor for Johnson.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
