Paula Johnson, a doctorate of nursing practice student, says it is important to pause and commemorate the milestone and think about the advancement of women. 

“It is truly amazing that all four of my daughters and I are in school at UofL in the year that we, as women, celebrate our progress in issues of equal rights, including our right to vote,” she said.

With two daughters pursuing engineering degrees, one step-daughter earning a business degree and one step-daughter following in Johnson’s footsteps to become a nurse, Johnson says she is extremely proud.

“You have to do what you love and make a career out of your naturally given talents,” she said. “There are lots of mountains to go over in school but I encourage the girls to remember they are going over them in order to do what they love.”

For Johnson, it is a passion for nursing, and a goal to teach the next generation.

She has been in the nursing profession for 30 years, including working as an advanced practice nurse for 23 years.

“After working so many years as a nurse practitioner, I have a lot to share and want to reflect that to students who don’t know what we have come from as a profession and where we are going – why we have to be evidence-based and perform at a very high level,” she said.

Johnson says she had a great opportunity to interact with medical students and residents, along with nursing students while working 14 years for UofL Pediatric Neurology before transitioning to Norton Medical Group – Child Neurology.

She is hopeful for her future, and can’t wait to see her daughters launch into their own careers upon graduation.

“I was always guiding my daughters – asking them what classes they liked in school and helping them figure out what they loved to do,” she said.

And, in the year of this historic centennial and progress of women’s rights, Johnson says she is reminded they can all strive toward what they dream of becoming.

The recognition is given by the national nonpartisan organizations Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher łÉČËÖ±˛Ą. UofL is one of 83 campuses in 23 states to receive the recognition. The institutions designated voter-friendly campuses represent a wide range of 2-year, 4-year, public, private, rural and urban campuses, with a total enrollment of nearly 1.4 million students.

To receive the recognition, institutions were accountable for planning and implementing practices that encouraged students to register and vote in the 2016 general election as well as future elections.

Uofl’s effort was led by Student Leadership and Service within the Division of Student Affairs. Director Pam Curtis said she learned of the designation through national organizations and said that it fit her department’s emphasis on civic engagement.

The effort began by forming a campus coalition of partners from across the campus and community, including Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, who could have an impact on driving students to vote. The coalition needed to also draw together all of the programming on campus related to voting to assess the levels of engagement.

Concurrent to the coalition, UofL also received funding from Vote Everywhere, which allowed for the hiring of a few students to lead voter registration drives on campus.

Curtis said the coalition was pleased to receive the designation, especially in the first year.

“The goal is to keep the coalition together and to really see how we get students involved in future elections,” Curtis said.