Professor Kathy Johnson with Zhao Chun Li “Angel” (seated), Angel’s husband Mo En Yao (center) and former President Bill Clinton backstage at the Clinton Global Initiative conference. Submitted photo
Special education professor Kathy Johnson is an example of St. Cloud State’s numerous faculty members whose innovative efforts are expanding St. Cloud State’s internationalization and the university’s reach across the globe.
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Learn more about Angel’s story.
Along with fellow School of Education faculty Ming Chi Own and Martin Lo, Johnson teamed with St. Cloud School District 742 administrators to launch the Guang Ming Academy at Madison Elementary School, a vision that began in 2006.
Several of the projects and partnerships Johnson has led, particularly in China, focus on advocacy for persons with disabilities and support St. Cloud State’s alignment with the International Association of Universities Education for All initiative. One of those projects involves the incredible story of Zhao Chun Li, or “Angel,” whom Johnson met in June of 2011 in Yangshuo, China.
Johnson continues to work on development and sustainability of Chinese immersion programs through an institutional agreement with Beijing Normal University renewed by President Potter in October 2011. A cohort of graduate students will complete a program at St. Cloud State this spring that will lead to licensure in teaching Chinese. Johnson has facilitated sister school partnerships for Minnetonka School District’s K-12 programs and is working with District 742’s Chinese Immersion program to facilitate a similiar partnership with Shaanxi Normal University.
