Dr. Carolyn Johns

Biography

Dr. Johns is currently the Interim Graduate Program Director for the interdisciplinary PhD program in Policy Studies and has also served as the Graduate Program Director for the MA program in Public Policy Administration and Undergraduate Program Director for the Public Administration Governance program. She is a Co-Principal Investigator on the new Global Center Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Transboundary Waters based at the University of Michigan and McMaster University, which has received joint funding from the National Science Foundation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This five-year project, running from 2024 to 2029, focuses on interdisciplinary research addressing climate-vulnerable communities in the Great Lakes region and North American global transboundary water regions. Additionally, Dr. Johns serves as Chair of the Geoffrey Bruce Fellowships Program for Canadian Freshwater Policy and is a member of the International Joint Commission's Great Lakes Water Quality Board and the Toronto Metropolitan University Urban Water initiative. Her research interests encompass environmental policy, water policy, intergovernmental administrative relations, public administration, network analysis, and policy capacity issues within the public sector. Dr. Johns teaches courses on public administration, public policy, and environmental policy at both graduate and undergraduate levels, and has also taught service partnership programs with various Nations.

Research Interests