The former director of graduate school minority programs from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale will take over as assistant dean of NIU’s graduate school Aug. 16

Jerrold H. Zar, associate provost for Graduate Studies and Research and dean of the graduate school, said Irene Johnson’s responsibilities as the new assistant dean will include overseeing the appointment process for all graduate assistants and university fellowships, in addition to recruiting and retaining minority graduate students.

Johnson will be affiliated with the Department of Educational Psychology at NIU where she will do counseling, research and teach occasionally in the graduate program, Zar said.

Johnson will serve for three years as assistant dean with the option for renewal, said Nancy Allen, administrative secretary for the dean of the graduate school.

Zar said assistant and associate deans serve for as long as the deans ask them to. After that, they are up for review where they look at the person’s job description and performance in the area of his or her responsibility, he said.

Johnson was found through a national search which included several dozen applicants from all over the country, Zar said.