Nancy Johnson has worked for the college since 1993. Courtesy | Austin Thomason

When Nancy Johnson ’06 moved from rural Iowa to Hillsdale in 1992 for her husband’s new position as pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, the church sent the family a paper map of the city of Hillsdale. 

“I just remember unfolding this map of Hillsdale and saying, ‘oh my gosh there’s a college in this town,’” Johnson said.

Now, she’s retiring from 31 years of working at the college.

“I just needed a job in 1993, and it became a career,” the 67-year-old mother of five said. “I had no plans to do this with my life, and yet, here I am. It turned into a career that I’ve really, really loved.”

Johnson started her career as a data clerk in the admissions office in 1993, where she manually entered prospective student information into a database. She has since worked in the president’s office, helped with the accreditation process, and worked on the institutional advancement writing staff before taking over as associate vice president of institutional advancement in 2018. 

“During her decades here, Nancy has been a pillar,” College President Larry Arnn said. 

Johnson served as director of the Rebirth of Liberty and Learning capital campaign from 2012-2018 and the Four Pillars Campaign from 2018-2024. This most recent capital campaign, which wrapped up in June, raised more than $1.5 billion.

“I said to her once, after she gave me some report, that I had never seen her do anything except well,” Arnn said. “We owe her a debt for her skill, devotion, and good judgment. Her work is written all over the college.”

In addition to raising a family and working full time for the college, Johnson finished her bachelor’s degree at Hillsdale after completing two years at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota, before her marriage. Taking one class per semester for five years, Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in classics in 2006. 

Johnson said she always had a fascination with Latin but never got the chance to study the language in school.

“When I decided to start taking classes, the general advice was at my age I should take the fastest route to a degree,” Johnson said. “But I thought if I’m going to go through all this blood, sweat, and tears, I might as well be learning and studying something I want to study. Of course, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

Though Hillsdale accepted her transfer credits, Johnson still had to take core classes. One of her favorite classes was her introduction to politics course with Professor of Politics Mickey Craig.

Craig said his favorite memory of Johnson in class comes from reading Aristotle’s description of women as less reasonable than men. 

“I’m quoting these things from Aristotle, and usually nobody objects. But she was a smart, spunky, and mature adult,” Craig said. “I said, ‘Oh Mrs. Johnson, you have something to say here.’ She said, ‘Yes, I hate this because it’s so true. My husband is so reasonable, and I can’t stand it.’ I almost had to leave the room, I was just laughing so hard.”

Four of the Johnson’s five children also attended the college, where they all met their spouses.

“We became a real Hillsdale family,” Johnson said.

In her current role, Johnson oversees the institutional advancement database, gift processing, prospect research, and financial reporting. She also oversees the institutional advancement writing team she used to work on. 

“It’s what you’d normally call the back-office operations,” Johnson said. “I’m not out in the front lines visiting and meeting people at the meet-and-greets. I’m in the back office and oversee all the people that support that effort for the college on campus.”

Johnson has worked for Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement John Cervini ’74 during her entire time in institutional advancement. Cervini said he has been impressed with her work.

“She has an eye for things, and I find her to be very helpful — those things that people may not pay attention to,” Cervini said. “She has a knack for bringing up good ideas, she’s a good writer, and I just have a lot of confidence in her.”

Cervini said Johnson is a good judge of character and has done well training those who will take her place, but he said he is sad to see her leave.

“I kept baiting her, saying ‘you can stay on for another year or two Nancy, come on,’” Cervini said.

Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Patrick Flannery has worked with Johnson over the years on gift processing and agreements with donors. 

“She’s always relaxed, happy, fun to work with,” Flannery said. “She works hard. She’s really centered on God, which is something you can just see in her, and it’s something that comes out in her work at all times.”

The most rewarding part of her job, Johnson said, has been training the next generation of employees.

Katie Sorensen ’15 has worked under Johnson on the institutional advancement writing team since she began working for the college in 2016. Sorensen said Johnson has a sense of honoring the history of the college and those who came before her.

“She often speaks about her predecessors in her role and things they taught her,” Sorensen said. “You get a sense not just of ‘here’s how to do this task’ but also ‘here’s this honorable legacy of people, of which you’re a part, and that hopefully we can live up to continuing.’”

Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said he met Johnson when she first worked in the admissions office. He said she immediately struck him as a moral and knowing person, classically educated and wise in ultimate and important things. 

“She was also extremely ethical, and there was no drama around her ever,” Péwé said. “Her faith was deep. She applied the Golden Rule everywhere. Her morality was evident, and she treated people the right way. Anyone that came into the office, she treated them with the same respect.  It did not matter if it was a recent graduate learning the job or the provost.”

Péwé said Johnson will always be one of his favorite colleagues. 

“In Nancy Johnson fashion, she will leave everything she was responsible for in good order and better than she found it,” Péwé said. “We need to continue to develop the next generation of leaders, using Nancy as an example.”

Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Operations for Data & Research Sarah Grablick ’04, Vice President of Institutional Advancement Bill Gray ’01, and Sorensen will divide Johnson’s responsibilities when she retires at the end of the year.

Gray said he has worked with Johnson since he joined the marketing team in 2011.

“She and I have had many great conversations — solving problems, figuring out the best way to balance the differences between fundraising at scale and personal fundraising, and generally supporting and helping each other however we can,” Gray said.

Gray said he admires the passion, energy, wisdom, and intelligence Johnson brings to her work.

“Nancy could always be relied upon to do the right thing, to take care of our donors or our staff, and to be fearless in fighting for that,” Gray said. “I’m going to miss having her as a colleague very much.”

Johnson said she wants her coworkers to know how grateful she is for everyone who has supported her.

“You do spend time thinking about ways you fell short,” Johnson said. “Maybe that’s me, maybe that’s my Lutheranism: repent, repent, repent. You think about the ways you might have let people down, but I have been so blessed. People have been so gracious to me over the years and helped me to be successful.”

During her retirement, Johnson said she hopes to spend more time with her husband, children, and 19 grandchildren, visit her cottage in Pentwater, Michigan, and pick up some of the hobbies she has set aside in the past decades.

“I keep saying what I want to do is do whatever I want to do. I’m looking forward to some downtime for a while,” Johnson said. “I will not be bored, not for a minute.”