Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 37

ACUHO-I Award

W. Garry Johnson
Western Illinois University (retired)

The ACUHO-I Award constitutes the highest recognition of an individual who,
during the course of their career, has made exemplary, extraordinary, and
outstanding contributions to ACUHO-I, the field of campus housing, or
higher education.

T

hroughout his career, campus housing and residence
life took Garry Johnson to
colleges and universities
across the United States.
At the same time, his dedicated
involvement with ACUHO-I and a variety of regional associations provided
him numerous opportunities to give
back to the profession.
Garry's work in college and
university housing began when he
became a resident assistant and then
an assistant residence hall director at
what is now known as Colorado State
University-Pueblo. He later served as
head resident and then assistant director of housing at the University of
Missouri-Columbia where he earned
both his master's degree and a Ph.D.
in counseling psychology.

It was at Western Illinois University where Garry concluded his
career, but not before serving as that
campus's director of residence life,
assistant vice president for student
affairs, and associate vice president
for student services. When he retired
in 2011, it was as the vice president
for student services.
Garry's involvement in campus housing associations began
in 1969 when, as a college senior
and assistant residence hall director, he attended an AIMHO regional
conference. Later he would have the
opportunity to attend a UMR-ACUHO
conference. Soon he would serve on
and chair that conference's program
committee and eventually serve as
vice president and two terms as
president of the Association.

For ACUHO-I, Garry served on and
chaired several committees and task
forces. He was the Central District
representative on the ACUHO-I Board
from 1985 to 1987, representing UMR
and GLACUHO. He was chair of the
host committee for the 1989 ACUHO-I
Annual Conference held at Western
Illinois University. Ultimately, he
served as ACUHO-I's president in
1992-93.
Garry's career earned him a
number of awards. Among them,
he was recognized by the GLACUHO
region for distinguished service in
1993 and by UMR-ACUHO in 1996. In
addition, he was recognized by ACPA
as a Diamond Honoree in 2008 and
received a Parthenon Award in 2009
from ACUHO-I.

When do you first remember
being aware of ACUHO-I, and
why did you get involved
with the Association?

were to all us young, wet-behindthe-ears, new professionals. It was
easy to get involved and contribute
right away.

I first became aware of ACUHO-I
when I attended AIMHO at Weber
State in Utah. My first ACUHO-I
conference was in Vancouver, British
Columbia, in 1972. I was welcomed
and met many folks who would be
colleagues and friends for years.
I loved all the educational opportunities the Association offered me.
I got involved right away and enjoyed every minute of my time.
My first memories of ACUHO-I always focus on how welcoming folks

Who were your mentors and
influencers when you first
got started? How did they
assist you?

doctoral degrees. He encouraged me
and supported my work with
UMR-ACUHO and ACUHO-I. Larry
Miltenberger and Dale Meador
encouraged me to get more involved
with ACUHO-I when I became
director of residence life and then
assistant vice president at Western
Illinois University. Bob Cook from
UT-Austin and Alceste Pappas from
UC-Berkeley were friends and mentors for my time with ACUHO-I. They
were both regional presidents and
helped me learn how best to serve
our profession.

Richard Golenda, director of housing
at Colorado State University-Pueblo,
then Southern Colorado State College,
sent me to AIMHO and introduced
me to the housing profession. Dick
Caple was my boss and academic
advisor at the University of MissouriColumbia for both my masters and
2017 ACUHO-I WALL of HONOR

July + august 2017

37
Talking Stick - July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2017
