Posted on June 4, 2001 at 2:10 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A new scholarship for students majoring in business or communications studies has been endowed by two former University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) educators. It is designed to provide tuition assistance to first-generation college students over the age of 25 who are current or previous union members or the child or spouse of a current union member.

Ralph A. Johnson, Ph.D., professor emeritus and retired director of the UAB Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR), and his wife, Victoria A. Johnson, Ph.D., former UAB associate director of admissions, are providing $25,000 for the endowed scholarship. The gift establishes the Victoria A. and Ralph A. Johnson Endowed Scholarship.

Ralph Johnson taught for more than 20 years at UAB and was director of CLEAR from June 1992 until September 2000. During his tenure at UAB, Johnson held professorships in the department of management in the school of business and in the department of communication studies.

Victoria Johnson has held various positions in the University of Alabama System during the past 20 years. In the early 1980s, she was associate director of undergraduate admissions at UAB and, most recently, she was a research analyst in the department of heath care organization and policy in the UAB School of Public Health. She also taught in the educational research department of the school of education as well as in the international education program at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Throughout her career, she has been an active advocate of older non-traditional students, particularly women.

“Both of us are committed to helping students, particularly the atypical or older student,” Ralph Johnson said.

Through CLEAR, Ralph Johnson worked with thousands of union members, some of whom were displaced when manufacturing plants closed. The scholarship is designated for union members, their spouses or children, he said, to provide higher education opportunities for people who would like to attend college either to change careers after losing a manufacturing job or to assist children of union members who will be the first in their family to attend college.

“The creation and funding of this scholarship demonstrates the strong commitment to adult education at UAB and the generosity of Ralph and Victoria Johnson,” said Robert Holmes, dean of the school of business. “Ralph and Vicki have made many outstanding contributions through the 21 years that Ralph served as a faculty member in the Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR) and his 8 years as director of this nationally prominent program. This scholarship will assist many students over the years to complete their education here at UAB.”