Dr. Johnson is an educational comparativist, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted research in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, South Africa, Togo, and Kenya and is the winner of the 2015 journal of Educational Management Administration and Leadership Best Paper of the Year for her work on women higher education administrators in Africa. The majority of her work has focused on rebuilding universities in post-conflict countries and how universities contribute to the peacebuilding process during conflict. Dr. Johnson teaches research methods and higher education content courses in the Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs.