Jan 1, 2026
On the latest episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, Dr. Jill Creighton sits down with Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson, the trailblazing President of Connecticut State Community College (Manchester, Middlesex, and Asnuntuck), for an inspiring conversation that’s sure to resonate with higher education professionals everywhere.
From Student Affairs to the Presidency
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson shares an authentic, winding journey to leadership that began much like many in student affairs: as an “overly involved” undergraduate seeking belonging. Coming from a multiracial, first-generation background, student affairs became a hub for discovery, community, and professional love—and ultimately, a lifelong calling. What’s striking is Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson’s deep commitment to social justice, equity, and access, themes that have been woven throughout his career—across four-year research universities and community colleges alike.
Why Community Colleges Matter
A central theme is the vital, often under-recognized, role of community colleges. Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson highlights their generational impact: “We’re not just transforming one life, but generations to come.” Community colleges are bastions of second chances—for veterans, ESL learners, first-generation students, parents, and non-traditional learners. The conversation delves into how these institutions can be life-changing, especially for historically marginalized populations.
Student Affairs: The Essential Connector
If you’ve ever grappled with explaining the value of student affairs, this is the episode for you. Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson argues the core value lies in fostering a sense of belonging—for both students and staff. Especially at community colleges, student affairs professionals often play generalist roles, bridging academics, crisis response, and holistic support with compassion and ingenuity.
The episode explores the complexities presidents face, balancing limited resources, compliance obligations, and the profound desire to advocate for students’ needs. Listeners gain rare insights into how institutional leaders make tough decisions, and how student affairs voices can drive real change.
Advocacy, Research, and Representation
A significant part of the episode covers Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson’s research and writing around marginalized identities. His work brings visibility to queer and trans students, students of color—and pushes for actionable change in the face of societal headwinds.
Why Listen?
Whether you’re an aspiring leader, a student affairs professional,
or someone passionate about equity in education, this episode
offers valuable wisdom, empathy, and actionable advice. Hear
first-hand how Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson blends identity,
experience, and advocacy to shape the future of higher ed.
Tune in and be inspired—your student affairs journey will thank you!
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Student Affairs Voices from the Field, the podcast where
we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to
seasoned experts brought to you by naspa. We curate free and
accessible professional development for higher ed pros wherever you
happen to be. This is season 13 on the value of student affairs.
I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she her hers your Essay Voices from the
Field host here on Essay Voices. It's always such a pleasure for us
to welcome anyone who's serving in a college or university
president role, especially when they've come up through student
affairs pathways. So today it's our Honor to welcome Dr. Joshua
Moon-Johnson Johnson, he or they who is a seasoned educational
administrator, best selling author, social justice educator and
advocate who has dedicated his career and life to education reform,
LGBTQ advocacy, economic justice and racial justice.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:50]:
Joshua serves as the President at Connecticut State Community
College, Manchester, Middlesex and Asnuntuck. He previously served
as Provost in and Vice President of Academic affairs at West Valley
College, Vice President of Student Services at the College of San
Mateo, Dean of Equity and Student Services at American River
College, Assistant Dean and Director of the Multicultural center at
the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Director of the LGBTQ
Student center and Women's center at the University of California,
Santa Barbara. He's also served in adjunct faculty roles at
Binghamton University, the University of Wisconsin Madison,
Semester at sea, CSU Long Beach, San Diego State University, USC
and Concordia University, Portland. His social justice work has led
him to become a best selling author with his book Be Beyond
Surviving From Religious Oppression to Queer Activism, which was
also ranked as number three on Book Authority's 20 Best Selling
LGBTQ Activism Books of All Time. Joshua also published Authentic
Leadership, Queer People of Color in Higher Education, and Queer
Trans Advocacy in the Community College. Joshua received a doctoral
degree in Adult and Higher Education and LGBT Studies from Northern
Illinois University, a Master's in Social Sciences focused on
student affairs and Diversity from Binghamton University, a
Master's in Marketing from the University of Alabama, and a
Bachelor's in Business from the University of Alabama. Joshua
served on the Board of Directors for the association of California
Community College Administrators, or acca, and was the founding
Chair of the Equity and Social Justice Committee. Joshua previously
served as the VP for the Board of the Sacramento LGBT Center.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:16]:
NASPA has been a special place for Joshua and he previously served
as the Chair of the Multiracial Knowledge Community, a Regional
Representative for the Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community,
Member at large for the International Education Knowledge
Community, and as an Editor for the Journal of College and
Character, and if you'd like to learn more about Joshua you, you
can find their website@joshuaMoon-Johnsonjohnson.com Joshua welcome
to Essay Voices.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:02:38]:
So happy to be here, Jill. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:41]:
It's a rare treat that we get to have a president on the show,
especially a president who's come through the pathways of student
affairs like your journey has taken you. And we love to always
start our episodes by asking our guests, how did you get to your
current seat?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:02:54]:
I don't even know if I ever thought, oh, I want to be a college
president or anything like that. I started out as one of those, of
course, like overly involved young student affairs students who
kind of never, never left. I think, you know, for me, as a first
one in my family to go off to university, I was terrified. And the
thing that I do when I'm terrified, I overly prepare. And part of
that was doing everything I could on campus because I was so afraid
I wouldn't know what to do or how to get along. And finding social
spaces within student affairs clubs and employment and
extracurriculars and leadership really helped me find who I was and
find purpose and help other young students. And then that kind of
continued. And so most of my career has been in student affairs and
higher education.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:03:37]:
I took a one year gap and worked in fashion marketing and quickly
thought, hmm, I think higher ed's for me. And I spent probably the
first almost 15 years at large, mostly research one universities,
and then made the pivot to community college as that aligned a
little bit easier for me to do equity social justice work in the
ways that were meaningful to me and with larger populations who are
more likely to be at a community college than a highly selective
universities. I made that pivot, I think it was about eight years
ago now and have had the opportunity to do a couple of student
affairs like a dean of student services and equity and then a vice
president of student affairs. And then I got pulled over to the
provost side and was able to kind of dig a little deeper into
academic affairs and this opportunity came up where I get to lead
three community college campuses in Connecticut. I'm four months in
and so far it's everything I hoped it would be. So it's been
exciting so far.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:32]:
Well, that's incredible to be a new president as well, coming out
from the idea space as well as from the student affairs space.
Joshua, you mentioned that community college has really spoke to
you and your mission in terms of the students you could serve and
the impact that you could have. What's different in that community
college space from that highly selective four year. That really
drew you that way.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:04:51]:
Yeah. I mean, and I'm not sure I don't know your background, Jill,
like, if you ever did anything with community college. But I did
not in most ways. So my family, I'm the youngest of five kids. My
dad's the white military veteran. My mom's an immigrant from South
Korea. And I never really realized it, but in some way, everybody
in my family engaged in community college at Mississippi Gulf Coast
Community College on the, you know, Gulfport, Biloxi, Mississippi.
My dad as a veteran coming back in the early 70s.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:05:21]:
My mom is an ESL student. And then each of my siblings went to
community college. First for me as the youngest, I went off to a
university, but I kept. Went back for summers and did community
college to save money that I'd work all summer and pay off my
tuition in that way too, because I was pretty much on Pell grants,
scholarships, full financial aid, and trying to find ways to save
money as much as possible. But I never really thought about college
as a career after that. I really loved being at a university and
specifically the identity development part of being in a kind of
core student affairs and how they develop young folks. And that was
fun for me. As I moved through kind of the traditional residence
life path of ra, then hall director, then assistant director, I
started to think about identity a lot more and who was included and
who was not.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:06:09]:
So I pivoted to doing director of LGBT center, director of
multicultural Center. And I think the first time I thought, like,
community college could be a space for me, I was at University of
California, Santa Barbara. I originally got hired as the director
of the LGBT center, which they call the Resource center for Sexual
and Gender Diversity. And then, you know, this was 2010 budget cuts
in California. Then I got asked to be the director of the non
traditional student center. I was like, what is that? It pretty
much served older students, parenting students, veterans at the
beginning. And these were mostly students coming to UCSB from
California community colleges and starting to hear more about their
struggles, their life paths, and really that community college
space, giving people that opportunity for a second chance who maybe
didn't have a great high school experience, didn't know how to
navigate applying to universities financially was not a
possibility. And seeing how those community college experiences
gave them that opportunity to go to a top 10 public school like
UCSB or, you know, Berkeley or Stanford, some of these schools, and
I was like, wow, it really resonated with kind of this underdog
cheerleader that I've always been Some reason.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:07:22]:
And that really spoke to me, was exciting about that. So I did, you
know, one more kind of, you know, big job at University of
Wisconsin Madison, where that was 50,000 students, huge. And then
after that I was doing a job search and started to really
prioritize trying to move into community college world. And I got
to be the dean of equity programs at a large community college in
Sacramento. That was most of my job, was serving populations who've
been historically excluded in higher education or even when they do
go to a university, they're marginalized at the university. So that
was a really exciting opportunity for me to do that. It was
challenging going from big four year to community college, but once
I kind of figured out that rhythm, I knew it was kind of where I
was meant to be.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:03]:
You asked if I had any experience with community college, not as a
professional, but as a student. I did summers at the local
community college near where my family lives. And then also my
father had always emphasized the importance of what he would term
junior college from the era that he went to school because he did
two years at junior college before transferring to the University
of Washington. And he really has talked about how the junior
college experience helped prepare him both academically and
socially to go to that four year and be independent. And this was a
couple decades ago.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:08:33]:
Love that. I mean, and it really is, and we often say this in the
community college world, that we're not just kind of giving an
opportunity to transform one person's life, we're transforming the
generations to come after them. Because you do see that a lot where
one parent who first in their family goes to a junior college or
community college, depending on most people call it community
college now, I guess. And then you see the generations that are all
kind of trickling after them where maybe they don't even go to
community college. Kind of similar to your path, they go straight
to the university, which is fine too. I think as much as people are
like community college are great, they are great. Also four year
universities are great. And sometimes it's better for the student
to go to those too.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:11]:
Absolutely. And you have one of these transferable experiences
where you can talk about a four year, highly selective, a four year
state and a community college experience. And across all of those,
when, when you think about student affairs, can you talk about the
value of student affairs and how it plays out differently at each
of these institution types?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:09:28]:
Yeah, it was a big change for me to go from a very traditional
student affairs world. Naspa I found pretty early on I was the muff
generation minority undergraduate fellow program for folks who are
like, what are you talking about? But I came in probably 22. I
started engaging with NASPA and kind of stuck with that. That was
my community, my space, the API knowledge community, the
multiracial knowledge. Those were my people for 10, 15 years of my
career. Very kind of student adversary stuff. And then I went to
community college. And lots of our community colleges aren't
engaged in professional associations like naspa.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:10:05]:
And not to always critique or to blame them, it's many times a
financial resource situation. So I love that ability to try to pull
community college people into naspa. So all of my roles, I'm like,
I'm going to find some money, I'm going to pay for the journal, I'm
going to send you to the conference, something like that. And I
remember going to, as a dean at, at a community college and nobody
knew what I was talking about with NASPA or formalized Student
Affairs. And they still call it student services in many ways. And
I would say many folks in the community college world don't always
have that opportunity to invest in the, the professionalization,
the research, the academic discipline of student affairs and
student development. And so I felt very fortunate that that was the
beginning part of my career. I had that foundation on higher ed and
student affairs research that helped me kind of learn how community
colleges work.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:10:56]:
And then I had a strong foundation of leadership development,
social justice theories, team dynamics. That was really beneficial
as I moved into a dean role and then as a senior student affairs
officer. I'll also caveat. I spent most of my community college
career in California, which is a little bit different. It's kind of
a beast of a system. In 16 colleges, over 2 million students,
largest higher education system in our country. So it's very
regulated, very compliance based. A lot of the ways we operate in
student affairs is from assembly bills and Senate bills.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:11:28]:
And the folks writing those assembly bills are not student affairs
people typically, yet it impacts how we do student affairs. So that
was a big shift for me. I was like, wait, I don't get to like apply
this theory to practice in the way that makes sense to me. No. And
so that was a big difference. I think also it was a learning space
for me to be in a management position and strong bargaining unit
cultures, where there are employee unions that have a lot of
authority and power as well as shared governance, is a lot more
focused within the California system. So I adapted to those and I
really value those. I think that oftentimes they can seem like
barriers, but Once you learn how to work collectively with those
groups, it can actually make the institution a lot stronger.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:12:15]:
So those were some of the big changes of like the pros and the
cons. So many beautiful things about being at a community college.
And I don't know even if you were there for the summer, I don't
know if you realize recognize this, but when I first got to
community college, the things I did as a normal student affairs
hall director, stuff like that, investing in students, get to know
them, advising them, the students were so appreciative and it was
like, wow, I think I was there a semester and there was this panel
and two students said I was their mentor, which was heartwarming
and meaningful. And at the same time, I felt a little sad that many
of these students had been neglected. And again, not to blame our
community college people. We often have so fewer people at a
community college who work there versus at a big university. You
have a lot more people, I guess, to mentor students, to guide
students. And so our community college students don't often get the
individualized support that a lot of folks who go straight to
university get.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:13:05]:
Absolutely. And when I also think about the community college
experience in student affairs, we just had a guest on earlier this
season who had a similar experience to you where she went from four
year experiences to two year experiences. And one thing that she
talked about was that while teams might be smaller, they're also
more knowledge, knowledgeable about the students around you because
you have to think more stratified across functional areas as
opposed to kind of verticals within student affairs.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:13:30]:
I don't know what kind of path you started in studios, but starting
out as like a hall director or resident, you're kind of like a
generalist of everything. And in community colleges, that's very
common. You know, I do wish some of our areas in community college
had a lot more specialized people. But you see, it's more common
that student affairs folks are generalist, not just in student
affairs, but they know a little bit about academic affairs and
facilities and everything. And I think coming out of a life housing
background, that's very normal for those spaces too. So super
grateful that I started in student affairs. Even now as a
president. The level of crisis response that you get coming out of
student affairs, goodness, like, I'm always prepared.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:14:07]:
They're like, oh, wow, you handled that crisis. Where I was like, I
started out in res life, I was like, I lived in the residence halls
with the students for 10 years. I was like, I don't think there's
going to be a crisis that happens, that's going to surprise me.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:14:16]:
I actually started out in student conduct, which I think is not as
common of a pathway into student affairs. I remember my mentor and
my undergraduate experience. I was doing an internship with a VPSA
as a senior in undergrad because I knew I wanted to go into the
field. And she said, as part of your internship, you're going to
chair the student conduct hearing board. And I said, I don't want
to do that. She said, you're going to do it and you're going to
like it. And she was very right. It was a great opportunity for me
to learn about perspective taking and what fairness and fundamental
fairness and process and the importance of process for those types
of procedures were in higher education.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:14:48]:
And that led to a GA ship for me in student conduct at Oregon State
and was able to finish the master's there and then pathwayed right
into a student conduct coordinator position. And that kind of
foundationed my experience. So I got a different way of looking at
student affairs from the beginning, but was in constant contact
with residence life because a lot of cases would come from
residence hall interactions. And so that kind of foundationed me
into ultimately CSAO position. So it was a fascinating role.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:15:18]:
And most people hate conduct and don't want to go into it. That's
always so funny. And I've said this often with folks who are really
resistant to conduct. I feel like some of my most meaningful
experiences I've had as an educator were through conduct cases. And
so it was like, oh, yeah. And so when you see folks who are
possibly made some poor decisions or at the kind of the lowest
points of their academic or life, and you're able to kind of
support them and coach them with that. But thinking about conduct,
this is interesting. When I switched to community college, I love
your story around starting conduct, even as a student.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:15:53]:
And I mean, I guess I was an ra, so I had to like document or, you
know, write up is what people used to say, which was like the
beginning of a conduct process. And then even as a grad hall
director doing like low level adjudication. When I switched to the
community college role, it was typically deans and AVPs as conduct
officers. And I was like, oh, that's so interesting. I was doing
these things as grad students and I really tried to push for that,
that it is a lens that somebody as a newer professional has the
skills to do that. Those levels of empathy, understanding,
compliance, creating organization and structure and learning
moments out of sometimes poor decisions. So I've been able to bring
that to all of my community college roles. Even now when I've
switched to a new state and I'm in Connecticut now.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:16:37]:
Getting to work with most of our conduct officers here are
associate deans or deans. And to see that role as part of their
portfolio and to be able to guide that, support that, and coach
that. There's so many things coming out of student affairs that
have really helped me really vibe with the many parts of the
campus.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:16:53]:
Well, and I think part of that conduct foundation too, was it
really emphasized for me, something I think we all should already
know, which is that the importance of treating somebody with
dignity and respect in all interactions is really critical. And
making sure that we can emphasize the humanization of people in
those conduct spaces is just the one thing that's going to make it
the most powerful for everybody involved. Especially because we're
usually working with people who still have a lot of development to
do. I mean, we all have a lot of development to do at all points in
our life. But maybe it's the first time that person has made a
decision that has had that type of impact for them or somebody
else.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:17:27]:
I love that you said everyone has development. And that's kind of
the great piece around community college college is that I think
our average student's like 26 years old, 27 years old. And we have
a lot of high school students now too. And so our dual enrollment
programs, you can start in ninth grade. So sometimes we have ninth
graders in our class, and then we often will have 50 year olds in
our class. And the variety of folks who make decisions, you know,
that aren't always positive, it crosses over folks from many
different backgrounds and age ranges. So that idea of development
is never done. Really resonates with community college college
spaces.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:18:00]:
How do you see student affairs now that you're in a presidency seat
compared to when you were working directly in that corner of higher
ed?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:18:07]:
Yeah, you know, one good transition, and this wasn't something that
I ever thought I would do, is I started in a role as a vice
president of student affairs with one president, Dr. Jennifer
Taylor Mendoza. And then she moved to a different campus as the
college president and highly encouraged me to apply to be the
provost there. And so, and I had always kind of dabbled in academic
affairs. I've been regularly teaching for almost 20 years, in some
ways as an adjunct and a couple times more full time. I still
research, write, et cetera. So I was like, okay, I've always been a
little bit on the nerdy side. Of Student affairs anyway.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:18:41]:
And so I did go for the provost job, and I got it. And so in that
role, being the provost, I got to really dig deeper into academic
affairs. And that idea of, like, the how do we get Academic affairs
and Student affairs to collaborate more was, like, that was my jam.
And I was like, okay, I love student affairs. The VP of Student
affairs that we're able to hire was formerly one of my team members
at another campus. So we already worked well together. So I got to
see student affairs from a little bit of an outside perspective
when I was the provost and found many ways to collaborate and
seeing how it gave me, like, yes, student affairs is really
important. Yes, academic affairs is important, too, and the other
areas that are existing, too.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:19:20]:
And now in this role, there's so much value that student affairs
has. And of course, the core of what we do is the things that
happen within the classroom and how those are complimentary to each
other. And so for me, it's always nice to be able to see priority
prioritizing what should come first, what should come second, when
we do have limited resources. That's something that's very true and
common for community colleges. We're always needing more money and
needing more people. So how do you make sense of that for someone
who. Student affairs is the bulk of what I spent my career doing,
yet I'm in charge of the overall operation of a campus now, too, so
that's been good. There have been times where I have picked
investing in academic affairs positions or facilities positions or
marketing positions over student affairs.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:20:03]:
And I think sometimes people get surprised. And at the same time, I
think I'm able to make those decisions and discuss why I made those
decisions from a lens that people know. I understand student
affairs, and I see the value in student affairs. I see the value in
student activities where people think it's like, well, that's cute.
They're just playing games together. Like, well, actually, here's
this, this, and this, and how this impacts retention and
graduation, persistence, et cetera. So that's been helpful for me.
But it is like, one of those things where I'm not always picking
student affairs over the other divisions of the camp campus,
luckily, because I've had experience across all of it, and they're
all connected parts, too.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:20:40]:
I was just guiding my campuses to go through our annual planning
process, and retention was probably going to be one of our top
priorities moving in. And a lot of the Academic affairs kept kind
of making this assumption that if retention is our top priority,
then that's all Student affairs people. And I was like, oh, no, no,
no, hold on now. And it gave me confidence to be able to talk about
retention and a lens that is both academic affairs and
instructional as well as student affairs. It really is the blending
of those two. And so I feel very comfortable and confident as I
moved into a role like I'm in now. Because I had spent so much time
in student affairs and then time as a provost, I was randomly even
the dean of the library for a little bit. So I was like, okay.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:21:24]:
But I've always kind of liked the mix and the many things that are
happening at an institution, which is why I've always loved student
affairs because we're kind of in everybody's business all the
time.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:21:32]:
Any. Anyway, you have this incredible perspective where you can
look at a university challenge and say, okay, I need to approach
this problem from a variety of perspectives. I could see it from
facilities, I can see it from academic affairs, I can see it from
student affairs. I can see it from the presidency seat. If, if
you're a student affairs professional, what would you want student
affairs professionals to know about the way the presidency brain
works when decisions are being made? And I ask this because some of
us are really far away from presidents. We could be, you know,
seven, eight layers in a hierarchy away from a president. Some of
us might be much closer, a VPSA type of role, but we're not always
able to understand decision making processes or thought processes,
especially when something was really important to us and maybe that
was factored into a decision, but ultimately didn't tilt a decision
in a particular direction. Can you talk about how you think about
that problem set and then what you wish student affairs
professional would know about how you have to make those
decisions?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:22:26]:
I'll say it's still evolving for sure too. And I do feel pretty
good, even though I'm just wrapping up my first semester in this
presidency, my last role, where I was the provost, the president
who I moved to that campus with her. I was fortunate to have her as
a mentor, and she included me in a lot of the ways in which she was
thinking and talking about decision making. So I felt like for a
few years I got to sneak peek at what it was like to be a president
in that role. And then now that I'm in it, I would say. And it
varies too. So I'm speaking from a community college perspective. I
have three small campuses that I serve as the president over.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:23:01]:
Collectively there, you know, we're talking about 10,000 students.
So they're each not huge Huge. And it could be different if you're
at a large university, if you're at one large community college.
Based off of kind of my model, helping people kind of really
understand what are the basic things that we need to get done. And
this was hard for me for a little bit as I moved from university to
community college. I feel like in when I was at university
specifically doing identity development works for marginalized
populations. So LGBT centers, multicultural centers, Asian American
centers, undocumented centers, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes
those spaces, especially at universities, we think about identity
development and of course all of us student various people, we took
all these classes and theories and then getting to the point to
where in community colleges sometimes that feels like a luxury to
be able to even talk about those things.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:23:50]:
We're talking about some real basic things around getting out of
developmental math and English classes or eliminating them and
reforming them. We're talking about real basic needs and many of
our students having basic needs of food, shelter, transportation,
child care, medical insurance. And most of these offices are one
person offices. You have a one person student activities office.
Like you're lucky if you have a multicultural affairs office. I
have a seven hour a week person who is a DEI coordinator is kind of
what they call it now. So we're really, you know, basic level
trying to get by. And so I think that when I think about some of
the pieces that we pull, like this is important, important.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:24:30]:
I agree that some of the student affairs things are very important,
but when I can't staff an English class, it's really hard to
rationalize adding another student activities position or being
able to start a mentorship program. I highly believe that those
things are important and valuable. But if I can't run a gen ed
class, it's really hard to think about those kind of above and
beyond pieces. I end up in a lot of conversations with people and I
really want to support their proposals and initiatives. I love the
innovations that our especially our newer professionals are
bringing to the campuses. And I have to explain very regularly,
we're not there yet. We're still trying to do some basic things. As
a community college that's currently in a state with heavy budget
cuts happening.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:25:14]:
So it's not that I don't value student affairs, I value it. And
probably most of my career has been in jobs that now I'm looking
back like, oh my gosh, those jobs are so important and if I don't
run these classes, we don't even have students, students. So that's
a hard decision to make. And so to me, it's like, all good ideas,
but some good ideas are a little bit more at the basic level. So I.
I feel it's. I feel like that's hard to do sometimes. But I will
say I really got good at budget and prioritization because I
started in these roles.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:25:42]:
My first job as a director was of an LGBT center at UC Santa
Barbara. And even though, like, people think like, oh, it's a uc,
lots of resources, search one, et cetera, I was the director of an
office that, no, most people don't care about. So it's like, I
think my first year that my budget was $10,000. And so it's like
the whole year, $10,000. And I was like, how do I make this job?
How do I make this department run on $10,000? And so I got good at
that. And then it was like, how do I assess this and prove our
value and our worth and our impact on students to get more
resources and more staffing? And so I learned those skills as a
student affairs director sector in a small office serving
marginalized people. And I think that that's something that I. I
feel like I do well as a community college president because we
have real small budgets.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:26:33]:
We're always hustling, always trying to prove our worth and our
impact. And I think you gain those skills when you grew up in these
offices that are the ones that are never kind of the core of
student affairs of what we would say, you know, of course, I could
have gone the housing route and been the director of housing, blah,
blah, blah, which. Those are often the people who end up in VPSA
jobs or maybe beyond. But I don'. I'm a feeler, and I like to kind
of hang out with folks in. In community and cry sometimes.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:27:00]:
What advice do you have for current student affairs professionals
who aspire to be a university or college president?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:27:07]:
You know, there are so many things I would say, one, why do you
want to do it? It's a good question to ask yourself. And I don't
know if you ever got caught up in this around, like, especially
like NASPA Student Affairs Y folks, and I'm guilty of this, is we
get kind of caught up in the game around, like, I did this job for
three to five years. Now I'm supposed to go apply to the next one
and like, oh, I've been a director. Now I need to be an assistant
dean or dean, and I need to be a avp, like, all these kind of
things. I feel like we get into that a little Bit too much. And I
always ask people when they're like I want to be a dean or I want
to be the vice president, I want to be like why? Tell me like think
about why. And I think for me, even earlier in my career and it
took me a while to kind of get out of this is like a title or a
position somehow meant I was worth something or I had value or more
value because I supervised more people or I had a bigger budget, I
had a bigger title. And I think when we move into these roles for
reasons like that, it feels good for like six months.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:28:01]:
And then after that six month of being the dean where it's off like
you're just a dean like everybody else and then like you still got
all the drama and the title's not even exciting anymore. So I feel
like people who are chasing titles cuz it makes them feel like they
have an impact or a value. It's really a scary kind of trap to go
down. Especially folks in these roles are getting let go all the
time and then you have this kind of like identity crisis where like
well, I put all my worth and value into being a product president
and people knew my name and people said all the impact they've
noticed is now I don't have that job. Like well then who are you?
So I think that's a scary thing to do. If it's about money, it's
never really worth the money because the number of hours you often
work can be like you would make more money for doing a job that's
less hours. So that's the first thing I would say question that I
really questioned, did I want to move up? Being that dean was the
sweet spot for me. I felt like I had an impact.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:28:51]:
I felt like I had autonomy, it was good work, life balance. I still
was able to stay connected to students in the way that's really
enjoyable. And I was like, I feel like I have to move up because I
feel like I've invested a lot into developing skills and skills
that I think I can make a difference. Especially in a community
college world where unfortunately I didn't see a lot of presidents
that kind of had a holistic social justice foundation of
leadership. And that's something that I was fortunate that other
people guided me down that path. My academic disciplines took me
down that path. When you think about who's at community colleges,
low income, immigrant, first gen, bipoc, trans and queer, disabled
and, and many of the presidents don't have the skills and knowledge
to serve them in an adequate way. And so I was like, okay, well,
that's the path I came from.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:29:39]:
I want to do that. Even though I would rather just, like, hang out
and watch tv. I was like, I feel like I'm supposed to do this. So I
did it, and I'm doing it, and overall it's been great. So I. That's
the path. And then some tangible, practical things to really gain.
You have to learn the academic side of the house.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:29:58]:
So start adjuncting. If you. Depending on what kind of school
you're going to be at, you don't always have to research and write.
I do research and write. I would say light research. I mostly write
for practitioners. I'm like, here's the problem. Here's a little
bit of baby research.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:30:11]:
Do this and it'll make things better. So find ways to engage on the
academic side of the house. Be flexible. I kind of kept getting
pulled into different directions by interim roles. I don't know
when someone's like, do you want to do this interim role? I was
like, okay. I guess. One of the fascinating things that looped all
the way around in my career when I was at University of Wisconsin
Madison, our VP of Student Affairs, Dr. Laurie Burke Berkwum, was
like, I want to start a foundation advancement office for student
affairs.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:30:38]:
And she's like, I want you to start that office. I was like, you
know, I've never done this before. She's like, you'll figure it
out. She's like, you know, student stories, and you're good at
marketing. So I did. So I was able to help start that office. And
so for a year, I did fundraising advancement, alumni relations for
student affairs. And then when you think about what it means to be
a president, that's a big part, like engaging with donors, getting
grants, get doing the alumni part.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:30:59]:
And I think that that's a lot of things that student affairs people
don't often have. So all of my interviews, presidents, that is a
big part of really that level of engagement. And so that was
helpful for me to be able to, like, yeah, I actually have done
this. And then I translated through a couple of my community
college roles to be like, yeah, I've helped raise this much money,
these grants. So those are a few things that I think are often
really important for student affairs folks to round out what they
might want to do as they move forward.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:27]:
Let's transition to talk about your research and your work a little
bit. And also, you're quite a prolific speaker on marginalized
identity topics. Can you tell us a little bit about your interest
there and what you're finding right now.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:31:38]:
Yeah, well, I mean, I think I got deep into this all from, like,
NASA stuff. And so thank you for all you do at NASA and engaging
people and making these conferences wonderful. And so I think that
I was always trying to figure out, like, how to kind of combine
things. And when it came to research, writing, speaking, I don't
know, I was kind of a few things. One, I was at a school, I was
like, you can't go to NASPA unless you're presenting. So I was
like, oh, I better submit something, because if I don't get
anything approved, then I don't get to go to NASPA and see my
friends. So I did those kind of things. I often was.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:32:12]:
So I. I did my first master's in marketing research and then I went
back and I worked full time as a resident director at Binghamton
University and did a master's in, I dunno, it was like social
sciences, student affairs and diversity. So I was working full time
and doing a master's in student affairs. And so I would find ways
to be like, okay, I'm taking this class, I wrote this paper. I'm
turning into a conference presentation. I'm submitting it. I did it
at the conference, it went it well. I'm going to workshop it and
turn it into an article.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:32:36]:
So it was really like, maximizing my time. And that's kind of how I
started doing writing and then speaking and speaking at conferences
around a paper that I wrote or something like that. And I was often
picking papers to write for my classes or things to present at our
conferences out of, like, I don't know, things that I just was
passionate about. I wanted to read about and write about and talk
about or areas I knew I needed to grow. That was a challenge,
challenge to myself. Back in, like 2005, I was a resident director.
I had come from a very interesting Evangelical Pentecostal
background that didn't talk about many identities we talk about
today. And I read this article about trans students in the
residence hall and it scared me a little bit that I was like, I
don't really even know what I would do if I had trans students in
my residence hall.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:33:24]:
So I took it. I was like, this is gonna be my thesis topic. And so
this was 20 plus years ago now that I was like, I want to know what
universities are doing. And that really challenged me to. To
understand how I could be a better resident director, how I could
share this with colleagues in our field and also a better
understanding of my own gender identity and expression, although I
probably wasn't at a place to say that yet or even acknowledge that
it was informative and healing for me and my own self help. Lots of
my gender expression identity had been policed and harmed. And so I
continued that path. And oftentimes when I've seen a problem where
I'm like, why is no one writing about this or talking about it? I'm
like, oh, I guess I have to do that.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:34:00]:
And so the last book that I wrote is I got to be a director of LGBT
centers and universities, and then wrote a couple of books around
queer and trans students in higher education with religion and
Christianity, with race and identity. And then I got to help start
one of the first LGBT centers at a community college in the country
with Dr. Emily Mitchell, who was at American River College with me.
And then we presented at all these community college conferences,
like, here's how you start queer and trans services at a community
college. And people ate it up. And this was like, 2018, so not even
that long ago. But this was stuff that community colleges didn't
know yet or have resources. Resources for those things yet.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:34:38]:
So I think for us from universities who grew up in the field, we
might think that that's basic stuff, but finding the resources is
really hard in community colleges. Some of these really rural
community colleges, they're highly politicized, can be violent. So
after doing a lot of presentations, I turned to Emily, and I was
like, emily, I think someone needs to write a book about this. And
we're like, I think that's us. So we wrote the book Queer and Trans
Advocacy in the Community College, along with Lemuel Watson. And
that's been a really meaningful space for me to be able to write a
book around how community colle can really do better with serving
trans and queer students. And so I've gotten the chance to speak to
community colleges all over the country on how to put that book
into practice. It's one of my favorites.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:35:19]:
When a student affairs division or a community college will use it
as, like, a common read for their employees, Then I get to come at
the end and do, like, the little book talk and Q and A, and they're
like, we really tried to do this thing, and it was not working.
What's your advice? So that's been meaningful to me, and I think
that we're in a time in our country and even worse world where
that's being really complicated around the schools that used to be
more comfortable advocating for those things or having to be
fearful because of their funding or local politics, and
understanding that that's real, especially now that I'm in a seat
as a president and the implications that come with that, but
knowing that we can still be strategic in how we do that. So I have
a lot of thoughts for other books coming from this seat now, too.
I'm trying to figure out how I have time to do that. So I'm making
outlines of things that I want to write specifically from a
leadership seat. And I think also in this time where I know a lot
of folks who are in senior administrator roles, even as a VP of
Student affairs or as a president, that the things that we felt
comfortable saying three to five years ago can get people kicked
out of their jobs now. And I'm not the type to not say those
things. And so I'm going to say them.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:36:23]:
I'm trying to figure out how do I do social justice work that has
an impact in a way that can be making meaning now today too,
because I'm not trying to cause a bunch of lawsuits or end up in
the news all the time. I just want create a space for my students
to be able to live fully who they are, to get their education and
not have to compromise or to put part of themself at the backseat
of coming to get an education. And I know that a lot of campuses
have had to dissolve things, rename things, which I know renaming
things can be strategic. It's also kind of minimizing in the
symbolism of you value and you matter here are gone at the same
time, too. So I have thoughts in my head around what that looks
like in practice, and I still work shopping it, and I look forward
to being able to detail out what that is, not just for me, but I
think for many folks in leadership positions that are afraid for
their jobs to do what they know they need to do for their
students.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:37:13]:
I want to express my gratitude to you for being a president just in
the forefront of all of this, not afraid to use your voice, and
then also being out there with all of the identities that you
carry. We don't see many college presidents who identify like you
do. And it's one of those things where you said something earlier
where you're kind of like, oh, no one's written it. Oh, I have to
write it. I felt like that a lot in my career as well, where
there's not been necessarily someone who blazed the trail for me
ahead of me. So there are many moments where if you don't take that
opportunity to carve it for someone. But now you created a path for
others who identify like you to see themselves in a position like a
college president.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:37:49]:
Well, thank you. I'm interested in your perspective from a global
perspective, knowing you're in the uk. Like, what's kind of this
shift in kind of how we talk about identities in higher Editor
student affairs from a, like an outside USA perspective.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:03]:
The Overton Rectangle, Overton Square, whatever you want to call it
is, is a little different. In the uk, for example, the value of
higher is not being questioned at all in the uk. So it's taken
quite a bit of the narrative in American higher education and we're
just not seeing that. In fact, in most parts of the world, we're
not seeing that dialogue. I'm also a proud member of NASPA's global
division board. Currently we're chaired by Amnea Badr, who is a
lovely, incredible professional in student affairs and she always
brings an incredible global perspective. And we're represented from
people all over the world. So we've got board members that are
coming from the Manassa region, region.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:38:38]:
We have global members from Europe and Asia and beyond. And the
conversations are just quite different. We're still talking about
inclusion in different ways, we're talking about funding in
different ways. But I think the one thing that the US and the UK
have in common right now is a pretty serious shift in policy
related to international students coming into our learning spaces.
Both nations have taken a pretty hard stance on making it more
difficult for international students to approach education. And we
just had a lovely conversation in a previous episode with, with
Zachariah from University of Michigan. But what he's seeing,
because he works solely in the international student space and
he's, he's an expert and focused there. And so we're seeing choice
of those students divert.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:39:20]:
And that is also going to affect the globalization viewpoints of
our students on these campuses, because they're not going to be
able to interact, engage, cross, cross exchange ideas with people
who have extremely different life experiences than them, which I
think is going to have a deep impact on, on the way that we see
each other in the world. Because I think the number one, one way
that we can create inclusion spaces is simply to talk to each other
across lived experiences. Because even though both the UK and the
US speak English, I make a joke all the time that, you know what? I
don't speak English, I speak American. And those are different
things. And sometimes those are small moments. For example, I have
a good friend who says, tamao sauce for ketchup and the first time
they asked for tomato sauce with their chips, I thought they wanted
marinara sauce for the fries. And so it's just, it's small stuff
like that, but it's, but it's also big things about how we use
language, how we live in high context, low context environments,
how confrontation with care looks, how exchange of ideas and
political ideology looks. It's all really different.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:40:19]:
So I think the, the long and the short of all of that is we've come
to a space where the conversation in US higher education, which is
where my intellectual home is, my education and training is it's
not speaking the same language as the rest the of of the world
right now, and maybe it will again soon. But because the US is
physically so far removed from a lot of the rest of the world, I
think the ideas can also drift to be far away. And that's what,
what I'm observing.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:40:45]:
I love that perspective and I think that just being outside of a US
context challenges us to really think about the words that we're
using. And especially kind of with this current anti DEI movement,
I guess that would be, I think we did need to question the words
that we were saying and why we're saying them and how they impact
folks and the really going back kind of the human side of it and
not just the political side of it. I worked for semester at seed 10
plus years ago and on the student affairs team and my job was the
diversity and cultural specialist. And in that role I was
supporting bipoc students, queer and trans students, women,
international students, and all of those identities can look
differently when you go from country to country, Even things like
race, the way we talk about race here versus in Asia or Africa,
very different. And then supporting queer and trans students at I
think we went to 10 different countries and a number of the
countries it was criminalized for being queer or trans. And so we
had to think about how do we do queer and trans advocacy in a
global perspective. And so this current kind of space that we're in
and thinking about, well, it's illegal, we're not going to do
anything or whatever this illegal idea is. It's like, well, you
know, 20 years ago, 50 years ago, people found ways to advocate, to
be activists, to support.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:41:58]:
And in many parts of of the world it's still like that too. And not
that I want the US to go in that direction, but we will still
persist, we will still find ways to advocate, we can still center
that in love, no matter what the policy or the administration
is.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:42:13]:
Joshua I'm going to transition us to our theme questions for the
season, which is on the value of student affairs. So I've got three
questions that we've been asking every guest this season. And the
first one is, when you think about the value of student affairs,
what comes to mind first and why?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:42:27]:
Sense of belonging. I would say that's what brought me in for first
is just a person to fill a place that I could connect, which that
wasn't often common for me. But then for our students and even
employees, the attachment to retention, the goals of consistent
persistence to graduation. So it really goes down to kind of the
bread and butter of what higher education is about. And so much of
that sense of belonging comes from our student affairs folks.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:42:52]:
Our second question. Can you share a specific story or moment when
you saw the value of student affairs come to life?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:42:58]:
I would say when I think about student affairs coming to life, I'm
going back to my days as an assistant dean and director at
University of Wisconsin, Madison. This was 2014-17, when Black
Lives Matter was becoming a campus movement. Seeing our student
leaders, specifically our black student leaders, other students of
color, and even our white students mobilize, put leadership
development into action to gather people, to organize events,
protest actions, and in a way that cost them something, their time,
their emotions, possibly conduct situations. To see students grow
in stressful situations like that, to support each other. That to
me was such a powerful moment to be a director in that space. I
learned so much from them and so much from my team members. Seeing
student leaders move into advocacy roles that were far beyond them,
that were national and global. And I see people who develop those
skills often get them from student affairs programs that
intentionally nudge students to gain those tools and those skills
to lead in that way.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:44:00]:
And our first final question, what do you think student affairs
needs to do to be better understood and better seen in today's
educational environment?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:44:07]:
Student affairs can continue to do kind of the core of what we've
always done. And I think really we need to do a better job of
telling the story of our impact on the core operations of higher
education. I would say that we often think about a lot of the kind
of leading indicators that would get us to the goals, but don't
always connect it to the actual goal itself. As much as I love the
focus on getting that degree as a community college president, the
area that I feel like we need to make sure we're tying student
affairs to is really looking at getting students into living wage
jobs. And so that's a community college specific perspective. I
often say that my goal in moving into a community and our college
is serving this community is poverty reduction and hopefully
poverty elimination. And that comes through getting students into
programs, out of programs, transferring it into careers and
academic affairs programs or what we often call workforce programs.
Talk about that a lot, but I often hear our student affairs people
connecting the work that they do with poverty reduction and poverty
elimination for those who are most marginalized within our
communities.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:45:13]:
It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris
to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:45:19]:
Thanks Jill. So excited to be back in the NASPA world and there's a
ton of things happening in naspa. Well, Happy New Year to you. As
you're listening today and we're starting a brand new year, one of
the things that I wanted to talk to you about is the 2026 NASPA
Annual Conference. The NASPA Annual Conference is the premier
gathering for student affairs professionals, educators and higher
education leaders dedicated to advancing student success and
institutional excellence. Each year, thousands of participants come
together to explore innovative research, share transformative
practices, and strengthen professional networks that shape the
future of higher education. The 2026 NASP Annual Conference, our
108th annual conference will take place March 7th through the 11th,
2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. As an attendee, you can expect
dynamic keynote speakers, thought provoking sessions, and
meaningful opportunities to collaborate across functional areas,
all within an inclusive, forward thinking environment designed to
inspire progress on every campus.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:46:23]:
You do still have some time to get your registration in for early
registration. The early registration deadline is on February 4th.
You also have time for the second cycle of scholarships where you
can apply for scholarships for the conference if you need be and
the deadline for that is January 13th. Jill and I are really
excited to be attending the NASPA Annual Conference again this
year. We will be talking to attendees about their own experiences
in student affairs and recording some of the recordings, some
questions questions that all of you can be a part of. So if you are
there you definitely will want to come and find us because we would
love to talk to you. We always also have an opportunity to be able
to record a couple of episodes at the conference that we will be
providing to you after the conference and it's a great opportunity
to go even deeper with some of the keynote speakers and others that
make that conference happen. If you missed it, there is a brand new
leadership exchange that came out right before the end of the year
and this issue is called Shaping the Future of Community Colleges
Through Student affairs this special issue highlights the impactful
work being done at community colleges and the essential role these
institutions play.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:47:38]:
This issue showcases the breadth of contributions community college
make to the profession, from academic and co curricular experiences
to fostering connection and belonging for students. Beyond this,
there is another great opportunity for you to get even more more
information. On January 20th at 4pm Eastern, there is a webinar
that is free for all members called a Reimagined Leadership
Exchange. NASPA Leaders Talk Community Colleges Innovation and what
Comes Next as mentioned, this Leadership Exchange is a special one
focusing exclusively on community colleges. To mark this historic
focus, NASPA President Dr. Amelia Parnell, NASPA Vice President for
Research and Policy Dr. Janae Chandler and and Co Editors Dr. Mayra
Olivares Llureta and Dr.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:48:25]:
Eddie Martinez come together for a dynamic roundtable conversation.
The group will reflect on why this is a pivotal moment for
community colleges and why this matters for student affairs
professionals at all institutional types, the innovations gaining
momentum across the field and the leadership required for what
comes next. Their insights set the tone for a new era of
storytelling, connection and shared learning. As mentioned, this
web event is on January 20, 2026. It's 4pm and it is a free
opportunity for all NASPA members. All you have to do is go to
learning.naspa.org to sign up today. Also, right before the end of
the year, NASPA submitted comments on the ACT survey to the
Department of Education. NASPA, alongside a coalition of 34 higher
education and research organizations with the Post Secondary School
Data Collaborative, submitted public comments to the U.S.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:49:20]:
department of Education regarding the proposed addition of the
admission of the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement,
or acs, to ipeds. The comments addressed the data definitions, the
accelerated implementation timeline, limited technical assistance,
and the potential risk that AXE data would not meet IPEDS data
quality quality standards or support its stated purpose. The
coalition urged the Education Department to address these issues
before requiring institutions to report ACTS data. Every week we're
going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within
the association. So we are going to be able to try and keep you up
to date on everything that's happening and allow for you to be able
to get involved in different ways because the association
association is as strong as its members and for all of us we have
to find our place within the association, whether it be getting
involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the
the centers or the divisions of the association. And as you're
doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself
where do you fit where do you want to give back? Each week? We're
hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you,
might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide
you with an opportunity to be able to say, hey, I see myself in
that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that.
Or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to
think beyond what's available right now to offer other things to
the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the
association and to all of the members within the association.
Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:51:07]:
Because through doing that, all of us are stronger and the
association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out more
about what is happening in naspa.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:18]:
Chris, thank you so very much for continuing to keep us updated on
what's going on in and around NASPA and Joshua, we have reached our
lightning round, which is seven questions in about 90 seconds, all
about you. I promise they're fun. Are you ready to go?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:51:31]:
Let's go.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:32]:
Question number 1 1. When you are a conference keynote speaker,
what is your entrance music?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:51:36]:
I didn't get an entry music song, but right now, I mean, I would
take golden by hundreds.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:42]:
Number two, when you were five years old, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:51:45]:
Probably a dancer.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:46]:
Number three, who's your most influential professional mentor?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:51:49]:
Dr. Lemuel Watson.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:51:51]:
And what institution is that from?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:51:52]:
He is now at Antioch University, but he was my dean when I was at
Northern Illinois University and my advisor for my doctorate
dissertation.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:00]:
Number four, and I'll caveat this by saying you can say your own
work. What's your essential student affairs?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:52:05]:
I refer all of my team members to Read Identity Conscious
Supervision and Student affairs by Robert Brown, Shruti Desai and
Craig Elliot.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:15]:
Number five, the best TV show you've been binging lately.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:52:17]:
RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:19]:
That's a good season. Number six, the podcast you've spent the most
hours listening to in the last year.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:52:24]:
Las Culturistas, Bowen Yangs.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:26]:
And finally, number seven, any shout outs you'd like to give,
personal or professional?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:52:30]:
I'm thinking about my NASPA folks and going back to some of the
people who pulled me into NASPA. Dr. Joy Hoff, Dr. Raja Butter.
These are the folks who were my early API KC folks that are still
huge parts of my life.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:44]:
Joshua, it's been incredible to get to know you today, to learn
your story and learn about your leadership. If others would like to
reach you after the show, especially if they want to do work with
your book or keynotes how can they find you?
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:52:55]:
Easiest way is www.joshuaMoon-Johnsonjohnson.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:52:59]:
Joshua. Thank you so very much for sharing your voice with us
today.
Dr. Joshua Moon-Johnson [00:53:02]:
Thank you. It's a pleasure. I love this conversation.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:09]:
This has been an episode of Essay Voices from the Field brought to
you by naspa. This show is made possible because of you, the
listeners. We continue to be so grateful that you choose to spend
your time with us. If you'd like to reach the show, you can email
us@sa voicesaspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr.
Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and your topic and
guest suggestions always. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell
a colleague about the show and leave us a five star review on Apple
Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening now.
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:53:39]:
It really does help other student affairs professionals find the
show and helps us to become more visible in the larger podcasting
community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill
Creighton. That's me, produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris
Lewis. Special thanks to the University of Michigan, Flint for your
support as we create this project. Catch you next time.