Mark L. Johnson, Ed.D., has been named to receive the 2001 William and Allene Guthrie Van Meter Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from the board of directors of the Labette Community College Alumni Association. The award will be presented October 26 at the fourth annual Donor Appreciation Luncheon at the VFW hall in Parsons.

Johnson is associate professor in technical education at Pittsburg State University. He was named Outstanding Career and Technical Educator of 2000 by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and Vocational Educator of 1998 by the Kansas Vocational Association. In 1998 he also received the National Honorary Lifetime Membership Award and the National Alumni Career Achievement Award from the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA).

He graduated from Labette Community College in 1981. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from PSU in 1983 and a master’s degree in technical teacher education from PSU in 1987. Johnson earned an education specialist degree in industrial education from PSU in 1989 and a doctorate in education from the University of Arkansas in 1993.

He began work for PSU in 1986 as director for VICA and the Health Occupations Students of America. In 1988 he became director for the Kansas Curriculum Resource Center and director for technical education recruitment at PSU. In 1995 he was named PSU Advisor of the Year and received the university’s Outstanding Faculty Award.

In 2000 Johnson wrote “Advisor’s Chapter Business Procedure Handbook” for VICA and “The FFA Advisors Parliamentary Procedure Handbook.” He has been a workshop presenter throughout the United States for professional associations, universities, and state governments.

He served on the board of directors of the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute from 1994-98 and has served on the boards of VICA and the National Association for Trade and Industrial Education. He was vice president of the Trade and Industrial division of ACTE.

Johnson and his wife Jacki have three sons: Jeremy, age 16; Joshua, age 13; and Logan, age 8.

The William and Allene Guthrie Van Meter Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award was first given last year to Marcia “Trinnie” Turner ’83, the first black woman to be the sole owner of a television station in the U.S. She is scheduled to present this year’s award. The award is in memory and appreciation of the Van Meters for their generous estate gift that funded renovation of Thiebaud Theatre at Labette Community College. William was a 1929 graduate of the college, then named Parsons Junior College, and Allene taught romance languages at the college from 1929 to 1935.