Dr. K. Richard Johnson Endowed Scholarship for Veterans

The Dr. K. Richard Johnson Endowed Scholarship for Veterans was established in 2022 by Colonel Thomas A. Johnson USMCR (Retired) to provide scholarship support to Veterans (DD-214 required) enrolled in the College of Education and Human Development who are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree leading to initial teaching licensure. Preference will be given to Marines or Navy Hospital Corpsmen who served with the Marines. Applicants must submit an essay discussing their commitment to the teaching profession and field of education. Recipients must be full-time students and may be in-state or out-of-state residents. Recipients must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and demonstrate financial need. This scholarship is renewable.

Dr. K. Richard Johnson was born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois, graduated from Knox College, and earned his Master’s and PhD degrees in biology from the University of Colorado. After several years as a college professor, he was inaugurated in 1948 as President of National College of Education (later National-Louis University) in Evanston, Illinois, the oldest private elementary teachers’ college in the United States. He served as President of National until 1972, and continued to take the lead in fund raising for the College as President Emeritus for many years thereafter. As Dr. Johnson often said, his job was “to teach teachers how to teach teachers.” He created a very successful graduate school at National, and later introduced coeducation to encourage more men to become elementary school teachers.