Debra Johnson,
Fall 1990, Spring 1991
Currently, Debra wears two hats at California State University, Chico. First off, she is the professional-in-residence for the PR option in the department of journalism. Debra teaches PR Strategy (the beloved plan book class), PR Publications, the on-site consultants internship course, and advises TGC.
"In many ways I do feel that my time at Chico State has come full circle in terms of TGC," Debra said. "I started off as an account executive in TGC in fall 1990 and now I'm the adviser to the group. It's been a very interesting journey to see the agency from both sides."
Debra's second job on campus is with the CalWORKs Family Planning Information Project, a statewide public education program under the direction of the California Department of Social Services. She is the project manager for this statewide program she helped launch in 1996. Debra works with another TGC alumna, Alyssa Banks, to produce organizational materials that educate low-income Californians about access to free and low-cost family planning services.
Debra was in TGC during the first year of its existence. In fall 1990 she was an account executive and became business manager in spring 1991.
"One of my strongest memories of TGC was working with Whitney Wolff to create a newsletter on an Apple II with a very small black and white screen," said Debra. "There were no such things as stock photography Web sites so we used flat bed scanners to digitize the art. The office was in Sutter Hall and we'd traipse across campus to Trinity where Dr. Milo's office was located."
To this day Debra stays in close contact with two of her TGC peers, Whitney Wolff and Marideth Post.
When she's not working, which is not often, she loves to travel having been to Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Galapagos, China, Banff, and Belize in the last five years. In January 2009 she's heading off to Peru. And sometime soon she'll hit India, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Tibet, Indonesia and the list goes on and on.
Want to reconnect with Debra? E-mail her at dejohnson@csuchico.edu or connect with her on LinkedIn.