By: Caroline Casey ’15
Editor-in-Chief

One of the newest additions to the Peddie faculty is Rev. Johan Johnson, Ph.D., the new Peddie chaplain.

In addition to being chaplain, Johnson is an English teacher, a dorm supervisor, as well as a coach of the girls JV tennis team.

“The community has been very welcoming. My family feels very at ease and very at home,” Johnson said.

Johnson is the son of the first African American member of Columbia’s men’s basketball team. He was raised in New York City and went to boarding school at the George School in Pennsylvania.

“When people ask me where I grew up, I say boarding school,” Johnson said.

After attending the George School, Johnson went to Clark University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in psychology. He then went on to obtain his Master in Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and his Ph.D in education from Fordham University. He later attended Columbia Business School.

For Johnson, being ordained runs in the family, he is a third generation Episcopal priest. At first, Johnson was opposed to the idea of being a reverend, but the turning point for him was when he discovered the practical aspect of the church through tutoring middle school students in the basement of a Harlem church.

“I saw the transforming power of the church. The church can provide housing and banking, it’s practical,” Johnson said.

While living in New York City, Johnson co-founded what is now known as the Harlem Academy. Johnson additionally led an Episcopal congregation. After teaching for ten years at the university and graduate school level, Johnson settled in on high school education.

“I’ve spent 15 years as head of a church in Harlem and I feel like in this day and age the school serves a communal purpose like churches did 40 years ago,” Johnson said. “Churches aren’t as integral in people’s lives. To be able to serve as an educator and chaplain is ideal.”

At Peddie, Johnson is interested in trying to integrate the community service program into what people are doing every day. He also wants to make chapel a more integral part of the community.

“I want the chapel to become more of a vibrant place, so it’s not just seen as a place to go for 40 minutes on Mondays and Fridays,” Johnson said. “Coming here, I’m trying to take a great tradition and build on it. There is a lot I have to learn and people have been willing to talk.”

While Johnson has many goals related to his role as Peddie’s new chaplain, he is interested in bringing the radio, which used to exist in the Casperson History House back to Peddie.

“My dream is to restart the radio station,” Johnson said. “I was on the radio in college and I would like for us to do podcasting, to get the students out there, communicating.”