Royel M. Johnson, USC Rossier associate professor of higher education and faculty member of the Pullias Center for Higher Education, has been appointed editor of The Review of Higher Education, the flagship journal of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). The appointment follows an open, national search conducted by the ASHE Board of Directors. Johnson assumes the role as the journal approaches its 50th anniversary, marking five decades as one of the field’s leading venues for scholarship on higher education. His five-year term begins November 2026.
“The Review of Higher Education has been a space where rigorous scholarship meets real questions about who has access to higher education and why,” said Johnson. “I look forward to stewarding that legacy while pushing the field to grapple with the systems that form a student’s academic trajectory leading up to a college campus.”
Johnson’s research examines access, equity and belonging in higher education, with attention to how youth-serving systems, including child welfare and the criminal legal system, shape students’ pathways into and through college and how institutions can evolve to better support them. He is the author and editor of more than 60 scholarly publications appearing in the field’s leading journals. In addition, he has authored four books, including The Big Lie About Race in America’s Schools and From Foster Care to College: Navigating Educational Challenges and Creating Possibilities, which received the 2026 Outstanding Publication Award from National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. He brings editorial leadership to his new role, having recently served as co-editor of Educational Research (2023–2026) with the American Education Research Association (AERA). Johnson is a two-time graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, earning his Bachelor’s in Political Science and Master’s degree in Education Policy Studies. His PhD is from the Ohio State University in Higher Education and Student Affairs with a cognate in Race and Social Policy.
“Through our multiple conversations with Dr. Johnson, the entire search committee was truly impressed with Dr. Johnson’s scholarly record, editorial service, and vision for The Review,” said Dr. Ann E. Austin, Chair of the ASHE Editor Search Committee and University Distinguished Professor Emerita at Michigan State University. “ASHE’s scholarly journal and the field of higher education are so fortunate that Royel will be serving as editor for the next five years.”
“As a premier journal in the field of higher education, The Review will be celebrating its 50th volume this coming year,” said Dr. Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Starr Minthorn (Kiowa/Apache/Nez Perce/Umatilla/Assiniboine), 2026 President of the ASHE Board of Directors and Professor and Department Chair at the University of Oklahoma. “With ongoing conversations about the importance and value of empirical research, we are grateful to Dr. Johnson for taking the helm of this imperative venue for the dissemination of scholarly research.”
Johnson has been a contributor to ASHE, serving as the founding co-host and producer of the ASHE Presidential Podcast for four seasons, a member of the Review’s editorial board, a member of the Dissertation of the Year Award Committee and a frequent presenter and discussant. He has also been deeply engaged with the Council for Racial Equity, Praxis and Presence (CEP), serving as a member and mentor in the CEP Mentor-Protege Program and member of the pre-conference planning committee.
“Royel’s scholarship on equity, access and belonging has shaped how our field understands the pathways students take to higher education,” said USC Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera. “His appointment as editor of The Review is well-deserved.”
