N.C. A&T Deans Coger and Ward-Johnson Named TBJ ‘Outstanding Women in Business’

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 4, 2019) – The Triad Business Journal (TBJ) has named two deans at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to its prestigious Outstanding Women in Business class of 2019.

Robin Coger, Ph.D., and Frances Ward-Johnson, Ph.D. ’86/’95, are among 23 women who will be honored during a ceremony this evening at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center. This year’s event will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the awards and provide an opportunity for the class of 2019 to network with winners from the past two decades.

Like their business and community leader colleagues, Coger and Ward-Johnson were nominated for doing “extraordinary work in the Triad.”

Coger has been with the university since 2011. She leads more than 120 faculty and staff who serve nearly 2,000 students across 23 academic programs. One of few African American woman deans for a college of engineering, Coger is chairwoman of the national Council of HBCU Engineering Deans and is a board member of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, along with Advancing Minorities' Interest in Engineering.

She leads a college that produces more African American engineers than any other campus across the United States and that is also consistently among the top three campuses in production of African American women engineers.

Ward-Johnson joined the university last year and is at the helm of more than 100 faculty and staff members who serve more than 1,850 students across six departments. Her college has significant impact on the undergraduate experience at N.C. A&T, providing the heart of the general education curriculum that all students are required to complete.

Ward-Johnson returned to her alma mater after 15 years at Elon University, where she served in various leadership capacities, including faculty fellow in the Office of the Provost. She also co-chaired the Presidential Task Force on Black Student, Faculty and Staff Experiences and was a co-leader of study abroad programs to Greece and Barbados.

The pair joins previous N.C. A&T honorees Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Beryl McEwen, Ph.D., interim Vice Provost for Academic Strategy and Operations Nicole Pride, Ph.D., and Goldie Byrd, Ph.D., formerly the Nathan F. Simms Endowed Professor and director of the Center for Outreach in Alzheimer's Aging and Community Health.

These dynamic women and their fellow honorees have been featured on the TBJ website and in the print edition of the publication that publishes today and will be further honored during tonight’s event.