This year, Jamie Johnson traded his coats and rainy Oregon afternoons, for flip flops and sunny San Diego skies. He was recently hired as the new vice president of Student Life and Formation, taking the empty spot that previously belonged to Mary Paul.
For Johnson, taking this job meant moving from his hometown in Oregon, where he lived and worked for 17 years at George Fox University as the dean of spiritual life. He now reports directly to President Kerry Fulcher, and manages all co-curricular activities outside of athletics and the classroom.
The Point sat down with Johnson to discuss his background and role, as well as reflect on the past two months working at PLNU.
The Point: Where did you work before coming to PLNU?
Jamie Johnson: Most recently [at George Fox] it was dean of spiritual life and university pastor. My whole career [has been] in higher education. At Gordon [College], I worked in residence life. I was an RD, I was director of housing, I was a head softball coach and I worked in admissions as well. At George Fox, [I] directed a leadership program. It was a combination between admissions and spiritual life, then transitioned into spiritual life for 13 years.
TP: Is your family out here with you?
JJ: They’re not. I have my wife and three children [in Oregon]. The oldest just graduated college, so he’s on his own. Our middle is a sophomore in college at George Fox. Our daughter is a senior in high school, so because of that timing we were like, ‘You stay back, you finish high school with your friends.’ I go home once a month for a week to 10 days or so to be there.
TP: How did you find this job?
JJ: PLNU hired a search firm, and the firm found me and said, ‘We think you would be a good fit for this role, would you be interested in applying for it?’ I didn’t ever really anticipate leaving Oregon. I really liked my job, but it’s part of trying to be faithful to God’s calling. I worked with the search firm, interviewed and spent time with people down here. I really enjoyed those conversations, both [with] the people in Student Life and Formation, but also the students I was able to interact with. It just felt like a really good fit for who I was and where I was in life, and made it easy to say yes when [Fulcher] offered me the job.
TP: How would you describe your role to a Point Loma student?
JJ: I serve the leaders of everything that is outside of the classroom except for athletics. So any program that is [this] we call it ‘co-curricular,’ but anything that is not in the classroom are things under my purview, so that includes chapel. It includes Alpha Groups, it includes all of the ministries who are doing stuff both on campus and off campus, ASB [and] the student experience teams. Everything that is happening on campus, all the clubs, resource groups, all that, … I oversee.
TP: So on a day-to-day basis, what are you doing or overseeing?
JJ: I have a leadership team of people that I meet with regularly. It’s the dean of students, the dean of student care, director of the Wellness Medical Center, director of Love Works and then the chapel program and campus pastors. I work with [them] as they’re stewarding their programs, and then thinking at a higher level, [asking] ‘How can we effectively serve students? How is what we’re doing forming them? What are ways that we need to shift how we do what we do to meet the needs of current students?’ And then broadly, thinking about the entire institution, ‘How can we think five years, 10 years down the road for who Point Loma is going to become?’
TP: Coming into your new job, are there any goals you want to achieve?
JJ: My main goal this year is to hit the ground listening. I want to spend the year listening, observing, watching, talking to people, seeing what works, what are points of frustration or challenge for students, so I think my main goal is simply, ‘How can I listen to the best of my ability to who this place is, to what what we do, and particularly how students experience this place?’ And then from there, ‘How do we, as a Student Life and Formation team, continue to invest in programs and resources that allow students to thrive?’ Only you can do the thing that God has uniquely gifted you to do. Same for me. Same for anyone walking down Caf Lane. We need one another to press into who God has made us to be to fully experience God’s kingdom.
Grace Chaves 
Milla Kuiper 
Olivia Roberts