Education

B.S., Neuroscience; Spanish; Medicine Science & The Humanities, Johns Hopkins University
M.A., International Education, Universidad de Alcalá (Madrid, Spain)
Ph.D., Communication, University of Pennsylvania

Background

Darin Johnson is a member of the second cohort of Bridge to Faculty Fellows at the University of South Carolina. Prior to joining the university, he completed his Ph.D. in Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in the Communication Neuroscience Lab.

As a researcher, Johnson is fascinated by understanding how people express themselves in various social, cultural, and organizational contexts. He has applied this interest through multiple avenues. He has worked as an English language instructor in the public school system in Madrid, Spain, and has taught English as a second language to high school students in Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, he has collaborated with researchers at Educational Testing Service on projects related to cultural responsiveness and personalization as a corporate intern.

Awards

2021 Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Student
2016 JHU Provost's Undergraduate Research Award
2016 JHU Diversity Innovation Grant

Research/Areas of Interest

"Just be yourself" is a common refrain people return to, to encourage authenticity. But how do we accomplish this in the face of stigma and scrutiny in our society?

As a human, scholar, & wordsmith, Johnson is seeking to answer this question (in that order) through the study of code switching (i.e., the practice of adapting one's self-presentation within and across social contexts).

Engaging quantitative methodologies and critical perspectives, bridging theory from sociolinguistics, psychology, management, and education, he explores: 1) The psychological consequences associated with self-altering in the face of discrimination, and 2) How we can change organizational cultures contributing to marginalization.

Teaching

My teaching emphasizes the cultivation of psychological safety in the classroom. In class, we must be able to express ourselves and our knowledge in a way that aligns with our truth and experience even if this expression diverges from norms. I advocate for a classroom community that moves beyond ascribed subject positions like “teacher” and “student”, so that we can embody ourselves more fully, recognizing our unique qualities as assets, not deficits. Inspired by renowned scholar bell hooks, I see education "as the practice of freedom". Hopefully, we learn not only with- but also from and about one another.

Recent Publications

Johnson, D. G., Mattan, B. D., Flores, N., Lauharatanahirun, N., &, Falk, E. B. (invited submission) (2021). The social-cognitive and affective antecedents of code switching and the consequences of linguistic racism for Black people and people of color. Affective Science, 3(1), 5-13.