Member Spotlight: Jeanette Johnson ’63 MS, ’66 PhD and Douglas Johnson ’62, ’65 MS, ’68 PhD

Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Jeannette Johnson (née Seloover) ’63 MS, ’66 PhD is more familiar with the creation of the Northwestern Lakefill than most alumni. During the year she completed her dissertation in audiology on the Evanston campus, her lab’s building abutted the growing shoreline, forcing her to get creative about her research schedule. “During the day, the whole building shook,” she explains, noting that she started coming in to the lab at 9 p.m. to ensure her measurements wouldn’t be disturbed by the construction. “At the time, I thought, ‘Why me?’” she says, adding good naturedly, “but it all worked out in the end.” Jeannette’s can-do attitude wasn’t surprising: it had propelled her to Northwestern in the first place and would help drive an impressive and varied career.

One person who supported Jeannette along the way was Douglas Johnson ’62, ’65 MS, ’68 PhD, her boyfriend then and her husband now. Douglas was also a Northwestern PhD candidate and remembers the University’s single, giant computer—at the time, on technology’s cutting edge—available to him for research.

Where Jeannette had been inspired to study communication disorders due to a family connection to hearing loss, Douglas was driven to pursue nuclear engineering because of a long-held interest in math, physics, and the history of engineering. “I originally wanted to be an airplane test pilot, but my eyes went bad first,” he jokes. The two of them met at a dance hosted by a graduate student club. Neither of them were dancers, so they fell into conversation instead—and have continued sharing their interests and inspiring one another ever since.

Shortly after they married, Jeannette and Douglas moved to South Korea to serve as Professional Placements in the Peace Corps for two years. When they returned to the United States, each continued careers in their chosen fields. Douglas had wanted to work at the Los Alamos National Lab since reading a book about it years before. His thesis adviser, Professor Roy Axford, recommended him for a position, and Douglas started a 30-year career at the laboratory. Jeannette ended up working across the US and in Canada, founding hearing clinics for underserved communities and serving as vice president of research and regulatory affairs for two manufacturers, teaching at several universities, and joining 3M in Minneapolis to help develop the very first cochlear implants. Through it all, Jeannette says, “Douglas was my home base.”

The couple eventually retired from their careers and moved to southern Utah, where they lived for 17 years, and then moved to Gig Harbor, Washington, where they now reside. For decades, they’ve supported Northwestern, earning platinum-level status in NU Loyal with 35 consecutive years of giving. They say they are grateful for their Northwestern educations and for the faculty mentors who touched their lives. Today, they are especially fond of supporting scholarships and hope that with a broad base of philanthropic support, students from all backgrounds can find a place at Northwestern. “We’ve enjoyed the benefits of having degrees from Northwestern everywhere we’ve gone,” notes Jeannette. “It’s a passport to respect, acceptance, and admiration, and we’re very thankful.”