Dr. Arcelia Johnson-Fannin
Founding Dean and Professor Emerita
Arcelia Marshallene Johnson is a native of Linden, Texas. She, along with her brother Don, sister Tiny (deceased), and cousins grew up in a community that was poor in funds but rich in education, the power of positive thinking, and reaching for greatness. With the Grace of God, great things she has done.
Dr. Arcelia Johnson-Fannin is the founding Dean of the Feik School of Pharmacy at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. With this appointment, Dr. Johnson-Fannin became the first woman and only African American female to be founding dean at two new pharmacy schools. In 1997, Dr. Johnson-Fannin was selected to head the development of the pharmacy program at Hampton University in Virginia.
Dr. Johnson-Fannin began her academic career at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in the School of Pharmacy where she helped develop the clinical pharmacy program and create the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. She became the first Director of the, and in 1980, she and her colleagues were the guiding force that gave FAMU its first doctoral-trained graduates. During this time, Dr. Johnson-Fannin and her students became involved in what would later be called “health disparities” research. The research they performed in the early 1980s was rejected for publication, deemed “biased” because of the race of the researchers. Health for all became an underlying theme in all that followed. Her interest in Global Health developed when she lived in Saudi Arabia teaching female students at a Medical School.
In 1999, Dr. Johnson-Fannin was designated one of the 50 most influential pharmacists in America. She was selected to appear in the inaugural edition of Who’s Who in Black San Antonio. Dr. Johnson-Fannin has been recognized by the Top Ladies of Distinction of San Antonio, the San Antonio Business Journal, and designated a “Yellow Rose of Texas” by former State Legislator Leticia Van de Putte, and a “Comet” by the San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is an honored member of the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame.
Dr. Johnson-Fannin is active in the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Pharmacist Association, American Society of Health System Pharmacists, American College of Clinical Pharmacists, and the National Pharmacist Association, has served on the NAPLEX Review Committee, and is a frequent field reviewer for the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education.
Dr. Johnson-Fannin received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry from Dillard University; a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Pharmacy from Columbia University, and Pharm.D from Mercer University. She is involved with the community through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and several Board appointments, including Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas and a CHRISTUS Health Corporate Board Committee, and the numerous charities that she supports.
Affectionately known as “Dr. J”, Dr. Johnson-Fannin is married to Dr. Larry Fannin, Dean of the Roseman College of Pharmacy of Nevada and Utah. To date, they are the only “duel-deans” in pharmacy academia. The couple has two children: Ehriel, a nurse Educator; and Marshall, a computer engineer.
On December 31, 2016, Dr. Johnson-Fannin relinquished the reins and stepped out of the dean’s chair. She retired from the University in 2017.”