Olympian turned Valencia campus president

The new president of the East and Winter Park campuses, Stacey Johnson, is not only an experienced educator from Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Tex., but also a former Olympic fencer.

Before earning her doctorate in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin, Johnson was a two-time national college fencing champion, eventually serving on the U.S. team in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Johnson was also on the U.S. Olympic Committee’s board of directors between 1994 and 2004 and the USOC executive committee from 2003 to 2004, as well as serving four terms as president of the U.S. Fencing Association between 2000 and 2004 – the first woman to do so in the organization’s 125 years.

Other work had Johnson founding the “Dreams for Youth” San Antonio Sports Foundation, an organization serving over 100,000 children, which received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

But swordplay isn’t Johnson’s only forte. Originally entering the public workforce as the director of marketing and assistant to the president of Palo Alto College, Johnson was also the dean of arts, humanities and social sciences. Most recently, she was the vice president of academic affairs for the 9,300-student south-Texas school.

Johnson will now be taking over the presidency for the 20,000-student East Campus and the 3,300-student Winter Park Campus at Valencia College.

“My first job is to get a deeper understanding of the institution to better help guide and lead the East and Winter Park teams in the coming years,” said Johnson, who for the first 30 to 60 days will go on an “intensive listening tour, meeting with faculty, staff and community, seeking to learn more deeply all that we are doing well and all about the campuses’ desires and goals for the future.”

Johnson will begin work on August 6, replacing the recently retired Dr. Ruth Prather.

“Valencia is a most outstanding institution, as is evidenced by the recent Aspen Award,” said Johnson. “I want to listen well first and then plan together to help strengthen and continue our journey of increasing student success.”