Dr. Emily Johnson earned her Ph.D. in Russian literature from Columbia University. Before coming to the University of Oklahoma, she taught at Columbia University, Hofstra University, Drew University, and Williams College. Her research interests include the Petersburg myth and text, Russian popular culture, and the documentary heritage of the Soviet labor camp system. Dr. Johnson has received a number of awards at the University of Oklahoma, including the Cecil W. Woods Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching (2001), the Irene Rothbaum Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences (2005), the Dean’s Outstanding Academic Advising Award from the College of Arts and Sciences (2008), the Gary B. Cohen Award from the School of International and Area Studies (2009), the Vice-President for Research's Award for Outstanding Research Engagement (2012), and the Brian and Sandra O’Brien Presidential Professorship (2020).
Her book, How St. Petersburg Learned to Study Itself: The Russian Idea of Kraevedenie (Penn State University Press, 2006), won both the Antsiferov Prize for the Best Work on the City of St. Petersburg by a Foreign Author and the SCMLA Book Prize in Cultural Studies. For her work on Arsenii Formakov, Gulag Letters, translated, edited and introduced by Emily D. Johnson (Yale University Press, 2017), Dr. Johnson received the 2018 AATSEEL Book Prize for best scholarly translation. Dr. Johnson’s research has been funded by the Oklahoma Humanities Council, the South Central Modern Language Association, the American Council of Teachers of Russian, the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal World Literature Today. At OU, she teaches Russian language courses at all levels and a broad range of courses in Russian literature and culture both in Russian and in translation.
