The University of South Carolina recently established the Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology & Society. The institute was funded with a contribution from Dr. Johnson’s father.
Ann Johnson served as an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, where she held joint appointments in the departments of history and philosophy. She was hired in 2015 an associate professor of science and technology studies at Cornell University in Ithaca New York. Dr. Johnson died in December 2016 from a rare form of cancer. She was 51 years old.
Lacy K. Ford, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina, said that “the Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology and Society will provide increased opportunity for teaching and learning across disciplines and enable us to continue forging those crucial relationships among arts, humanities and sciences. We are extremely honored the Johnson family chose our college to continue their daughter’s tremendous work and know our students, faculty and state will benefit from this institute far into the future.”
Earlier in her career, Dr. Johnson taught at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Fordham University in New York. She was the author of Hitting the Brakes: Engineering Design and the Production of Knowledge (Duke University Press, 2009).
Professor Johnson was a 1986 graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She earned a master of fine arts degree in technical design and production from the Yale School of Drama and a Ph.D. in the history of science at Princeton University in New Jersey.